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THE 



Great Controversy 



Between Christ and Satan 



THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 



BY MRS. E. G. WHITE, 



AUTHOR OF "THR UFE OF CHRIST," "SKETCHES FROM THE IJFE OF 

PAUE," " BIBI^E SANCTIFICATION," AND VARIOUS 

OTHER WORKS. 



ELEVEJVT/I EDITION— REVISED AJIE E/IL/l^QED. 

SIXTY-SECOND THOUSAND. 




Published by 

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

Oakland, Cal., 

San Francisco and New York. 

1888- 



3' 

v 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 

ALL RIGHTS RESER VED 



?KC\V\C PRtSS PUBUSVWUG COM?MV< , 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



When the leader of those " angels which kept not their first estate " 
(Jude 6) fell from his holy and exalted place in Heaven, he precipitated 
upon the universe of God an awful controversy. 

From the very nature of the case, there must be eternal antago- 
nism between righteousness and sin. Between purity and pollution 
there can be no coalition; nor could the supreme Author of all things, 
the God in whom inheres every perfection, maintain any other than 
an attitude of uncompromising hostility to sin and all its fruits, to the 
author of rebellion and all his followers. 

Another conclusion is apparent: God, as the foe of all evil, and at 
the same time omnipotent, could not, consistently with his own nature, 
suffer rebellion to enter within his realms, and abide forever. The in- 
truder must be cast out; the disturber of the peace must be destroyed. 
There can be no question as to the issue of this controversy between a 
holy Creator and the rebellious creature. 

That sin might make a full revelation of its nature and results to 
the intelligences of all worlds, this controversy was not arrested in its 
inception. When sin is finally destroyed, it will have given sufficient 
evidence to satisfy every mind that it deserves the infliction; and all 
will joyfully acquiesce in its merited doom. 

Happily we have no evidence that, outside the apostate angels, any 
other world than our own has fallen under the influence of this sinful 
revolt. But this is enough to make it a matter of absorbing interest to 
us; for Satan and his angels being cast out of Heaven, this world has 
become the sole theater of the struggle between right and wrong. All 
men have become involved therein. Between them and salvation 
there lies the problem of recovery from sin, the attainment to a con- 
dition of reconciliation and acceptance with God. 

What theme is therefore entitled to be regarded with more absorb- 
ing interest than this great controversy — the stages through which it 
has passed, its present development, and the outlook for the future. 
How and under what circumstances will the controversy end ? and 
have we any evidence that the long-wished-for termination is drawing 
near? 

To the consideration of these great themes the following pages are 

(a) (iii) 



PREFACE. 



devoted; and we have the clearest assurance that the author possesses 
peculiar qualifications for such a work. From her childhood she has 
been noted for her reverence and love for the Word of God, and her 
piety and devotion to his service. Unbounded faith in the promises 
of the Holy Scriptures has been both an inducement and a means to 
enable her to live near to the Saviour. The blessing of the Holy Spirit 
has been vouchsafed to her in large measure. And as one of the offices 
of this Spirit was declared to be to show unto the followers of Christ 
" things to come " (John 16 : 13), working through that prescribed chan- 
nel which, as one of the endowments of the church, is described as 
the gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 12:9, 10; 14:1), so we believe she 
has been empowered by a divine illumination to speak of some past 
events which have thus been brought to her attention, with greater 
minuteness than is set forth in any existing records, and to read the 
future with more than human foresight. Those who know what it is 
to hold communion with our heavenly Father, will, we think, as they 
read these pages, feel constrained to believe that the writer has drawn 
from the heavenly fountain, and received help from that throne of 
grace where Christ sitteth as our merciful High Priest, and whence he 
is ever ready to send forth assistance to the many sons whom he is 
bringing unto glory. Heb. 2 : 10. 

Aside from the great volume of inspiration— the Bible — no other 
book presents a more wonderful and intensely interesting history of 
the present dispensation, to the complete restitution of all things, than 
the volume here offered to the public. And as the closing scenes of 
this world's history are of the most thrilling and momentous nature, 
these are more particularly dwelt upon in this work. The reader, as 
he follows the narrative, beginning with a sketch of our Lord's great 
prophecy in Matthew 24, will find himself entering into new sympathy 
with the church in her warfare and her sufferings, as she passes on to 
her promised redemption; and the soul of every believer will kindle at 
the vivid description of the final triumph of the people of God, the de- 
struction of Satan and all his followers, the total and eternal extirpa- 
tion of evil from the universe, and the renovation of the earth as the 
everlasting inheritance of the saints, when this great controversy is 
concluded. 

While the subjects here presented involve the loftiest imagery, and 
most wonderful depth, even as the apostle declares, " the deep things 
of God," which the Spirit alone is capable of searching into (lCor^ 2 :10), 
yet they are treated in language chaste, simple, and easy to be under- 
stood. And we rejoice to knoAV that the reading of this work leads to 
greater confidence in, and love for, the Holy Scriptures, to greater 
sympathy with Christ, in his marvelous work for the redemption of 



PREFACE. 



men, and to greater reverence for the God of all grace, in whom are all 
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 

Ten editions of this work having already been exhausted, we feel a 
peculiar gratification in sending forth this, the eleventh edition, en- 
larged and improved, and adapted to circulation in various tongues. 
The illustrations will add to the interest and value of the work. May- 
it still prove a blessing to all who read, and redound to the glory of 
the Most High. 

AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



Before the entrance of sin, Adam enjoyed open communion with 
his Maker; but since man separated himself from God by transgres- 
sion, the human race has been cut off from this high privilege. By 
the plan of redemption, however, a way has been opened whereby the 
inhabitants of the earth may still have connection with Heaven. God 
has communicated with men by his Spirit, and divine light has been 
imparted to the world by revelations to his chosen servants. ** Holy 
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet. 1 : 21. 

During the first twenty-five hundred years of human history, there 
was no written revelation. Those who had been taught of God, com- 
municated their knowledge to others, and it was handed down from 
father to son, through successive generations. The preparation of the 
written word began in the time of Moses. Inspired revelations were 
then embodied in an inspired book. This work continued during the 
long period of sixteen hundred years, from Moses, the historian of 
creation and the law, to John, the recorder of tire most sublime truths 
sf the gospel. 

The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human 
hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the char- 
acteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all "given 
by inspiration of God " (2 Tim. 3 : 16) ; yet they are expressed in the 
words of men. The Infinite One by his Holy Spirit has shed light 
into the minds and hearts of his servants. He has given dreams and 
visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was thus re- 
vealed, have themselves embodied the thought in human language. 

The ten commandments were spoken by God himself, and were 
written by his own hand. They are of divine, and not human com- 
position. But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the 
language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such 
a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and 

(c) 



PREFACE. 



the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that 
" the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1 : 14. 

Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and 
occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the 
Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the 
nature of the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are 
employed by different writers; often the same truth is more strikingly 
presented by one than by another. And as several writers present a 
subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear, to the 
superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or contra- 
diction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, 
discerns the underlying harmony. 

As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought 
out in its varied aspects. One writer is more stro.:gly impressed 
with one phase of a subject; he grasps those points that harmonize 
with his experience or with his power of perception and appreciation; 
another seizes upon a different phase; and each, under the guidance of 
the Holy Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his own 
mind; a different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony 
through all. And the truths thus revealed unite to form a perfect 
whole, adapted to meet the wants of men in all the circumstances and 
experiences of life. 

God has been pleased to communicate his truth to the world by 
human agencies, and he himself, by his Holy Spirit, qualified men 
and enabled them to do this work. He guided the mind in the selec- 
tion of what to speak and what to write. The treasure was intrusted 
to earthen vessels, yet it is, none the less, from Heaven. The testimony 
is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human language; yet 
it is the testimony of God; and the obedient, believing child of God 
beholds in it the glory of a divine power, full of grace and truth. 

In his Word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary 
for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are to be accepted as an authorita- 
tive, infallible revelation of his will. They are the standard of char- 
acter, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience. "Every 
scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for 
correction, for instruction which is in righteousness; that the man of 
God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work." 
2 Tim. 3 : 16, 17, Eevised Version. 

Yet the fact that God has revealed his will to men through his Word, 
has not rendered needless the continued presence and guiding of the 
Holy Spirit. On the contrary, the Spirit was promised by our Saviour, 
to open the Word to his servants, to illuminate and apply its teach- 
ings. And since it was the Spirit of God that inspired the Bible, it is 
(d) 



PREFACE. 



impossible that the teaching of the Spirit should ever be contrary to 
that of the Word. 

The Spirit was not given — nor can it ever be bestowed — to supersede 
the Bible; for the Scriptures explicitly state that the Word of God is 
the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested. 
Says the apostle John, " Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits 
whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out 
into the world." 1 Joh» 4 : 1. And Isaiah declares, " To the law and 
to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because 
there is no light in them." Isa. 8 : 20. 

Great reproach has been cast upon the work of the Holy Spirit, by 
the errors of a class that, claiming its enlightenment, profess to have 
no further need of guidance from the Word of God. They are governed 
by impressions which they regard as the voice of God in the soul. But 
the spirit that controls them is not the Spirit of God. This following 
of impressions, to the neglect of the Scriptures, can lead only to con- 
fusion, to deception and ruin. It serves only to further the designs 
of the evil one. Since the ministry of the Holy Spirit is of vital 
importance to the church of Christ, it is one of the devices of Satan, 
through the errors of extremists and fanatics to cast contempt upon 
the work of the Spirit, aud cause the people of God to neglect this 
source of strength which our Lord himself has provided. 

In harmony with the Word of God, his Spirit was to continue its 
work throughout the entire period of the gospel dispensation. During 
the ages while the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament 
were being given, the Holy Spirit did not cease to communicate light 
to individual minds, apart from the revelations to be embodied in the 
sacred canon. The Bible itself relates how, through the Holy Spirit, 
men received warning, reproof, counsel, and instruction, in matters in 
no Avay relating to the giving of the Scriptures. And mention is made 
of prophets in different ages, of whose utterances nothing is recorded. 
In like manner, after the close of the canon of Scripture, the Holy 
Spirit was still to continue its work, to enlighten, warn, and comfort 
the children of God. 

Jesus promised his disciples, "The Comforter, which is the Holy 
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all 
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have 
said unto you." "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide 
you into all truth; . . . and he will show you things to come." John 
14:26; 18 : 13. Scripture plainly teaches that these promises, so far 
from being limited to apostolic days, extend to the church of Christ 
in all ages. The Saviour assures his followers, " I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28 : 20. And Paul declares 



PREFACE. 



that the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit were set in the church 
" for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the 
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, 
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Eph. 
4:12, 13. 

For the believers at Ephesus the apostle prayed, "That the God of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the 
Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of 
your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the 
hope of his calling, and what ... is the exceeding greatness of 
his power to us-ward who believe." Eph. 1 : 17-19. The ministry of 
the divine Spirit in enlightening the understanding and opening to 
the mind the deep things of God's holy Word, was the blessing which 
Paul thus besought for the Ephesian church. 

After the wonderful manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the day of 
Pentecost, Peter exhorted the people to repentance and baptism in the 
name of Christ, for the remission of their sins; and he said, " Ye shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and 
to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord 
our God shall call." Acts 2 : 38, 39. 

In immediate connection with the scenes of the great day of God, 
the Lord by the prophet Joel has promised a special manifestation of 
his Spirit. Joel 2 : 28. This prophecy received a partial fulfillment in 
the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost; but it will reach 
its full accomplishment in the manifestation of divine grace which will 
attend the closing work of the gospel. 

The great controversy between good and evil will increase in in- 
tensity to the very close of time. In all ages the wrath of Satan has 
been manifested against the church of Christ; and God has bestowed 
his grace and Spirit upon his people to strengthen them to stand 
against the power of the evil one. When the apostles of Christ were 
to bear his gospel to the world and to record it for all future ages, 
they were especially endowed with the enlightenment of the Spirit. 
But as the church approaches her final deliverance, Satan is to work 
with greater power. He comes down "having great wrath, because 
he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Eev. 12 : 12. He will 
work "with all power and signs and lying wonders." 2 Thess. 2 :9. 
For six thousand years that master-mind that once was highest among 
the angels of God, has been wholly bent to the work of deception and 
ruin. And all the depths of Satanic skill and subtlety acquired, all 
the cruelty developed, during these struggles of the ages, will be brought 
to bear against God's people in the final conflict. And in this time of 

(f) 



PREFACE 



peril the followers of Christ are to bear to the world the warning of 
the Lord's second advent; and. a people are to be prepared to stand 
before him at his coming, "without spot, and blameless," 2 Pet- 3:14. 
At this time the special endowment of divine grace and power is not 
less needful to the church than in apostolic days. 

Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the scenes of the long- 
continued conflict between good and evil have been opened to the 
writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to 
behold the working, in different ages, of the great controversy between 
Christ, the Prince of life, the author of our salvation, and Satan, the 
prince of evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God's holy law. 
Satan's enmity against Christ has been manifested against his fol- 
lowers., The same hatred of the principles of God's law r , the same 
policy of deception, by which error is made to appear as truth, by 
which human laws are substituted for the law of God, and men are 
led to worship the creature rather than the Creator, may be traced in 
all the history of the past, Satan's efforts to misrepresent the char- 
acter of God, to cause men to cherish a false conception of the Creator, 
and thus to regard him w T ith fear and hate rather than with love, his 
endeavors to set aside the divine law, leading the people to think them- 
selves free from its requirements, and his persecution of those who 
dare to resist his deceptions, have been steadfastly pursued in all ages. 
They may be traced in the history of patriarchs prophets, and apostles, 
of martyrs and reformers^ 

In the great final conflict. Satan will employ the same policy, mani- 
fest the same spirit, and work for the same end, as in all preceding 
ages. That which has been, will be, except that the coming struggle 
will be marked with a terrible intensity such as the world has never 
witnessed. Satan's deceptions w T ill be more subtle, his assaults more 
determined. If it were possible, he w T ould lead astray the elect: 
Mark 13 :22, Eevised Version, 

As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of his 
Word, and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden 
to make known to others what has thus been revealed, — to trace the 
history of the controversy in past ages, and especially to so present it 
as to shed a light on the fast-approaching struggle of the future, In 
pursuance of this purpose, I have endeavored to select and group to- 
gether events in the history of the church in such a manner as to 
trace the unfolding of the great testing truths that at different periods 
have been given to the world, that have excited the w r rath of Satan, and 
the enmity of a world-loving church, and that have been maintained 
by the witness of those who "loved not their lives unto the death" 

In these records we may see a foreshadowing of the conflict before 

(9) 



PREFACE. 



us. Regarding them in the light of God's Word, and by the illumina- 
tion of his Spirit, we may see unveiled the devices of the wicked one, 
and the dangers which they must shun who would be found "without 
fault " before the Lord at his coming. 

The great events which have marked the progress of reform in past 
ages, are matters of history, well known and universally acknowledged 
by the Protestant world; they are facts which none can gainsay. 
This history I have presented briefly, in accordance with the scope of 
the book, and the brevity which must necessarily be observed, the 
facts having been condensed into as little space as seemed consistent 
with a proper understanding of their application In some cases where 
a historian has so grouped together events as to afford, in brief, a com- 
prehensive view of the subject, or has summarized details in a con- 
venient manner, his words have been quoted; but except in a few in- 
stances no specific credit has been given, since they are not quoted for 
the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his state- 
ment affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subjecto In nar- 
rating the experience and views of those carrying forward the work of 
reform in our own time, similar use has occasionally been made of their 
published works., 

It is not so much the object of this book to present new truths con- 
cerning the struggles of former times, as to bring out facts and princi- 
ples which have a bearing upon coming events. Yet viewed as a part 
of the controversy between the forces of light and darkness, all these 
records of the past are seen to have a new significance; and through 
them a light is cast upon the future, illumining the pathway of those 
who, like the reformers of -past ages, will be called, even at the peril of 
all earthly good, to witness "for the Word of God, and for the testi= 
mony of Jesus Christ." 

To unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and 
erro. ; to reveal the wiles of Satan, and the means by which he may 
be successfully resisted; to present a satisfactory solution of the great 
problem of evil, shedding such a light upon the origin and the final 
disposition of sin as to fully make manifest the justice and benevo- 
lence of God in all his dealings with his creatures; and to show the 
holy, unchanging nature of his law, is the object of this book. 
That through its influence souls may be delivered from the power of 
darkness, and become "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in 
light," to the praise of Him who loved us, and gave himself for us, is 
the earnest prayer of the writer 

E. Go Wo 



Healdsburg, Cal., ) 
May, 1888. j" 

(h) 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 

The Siege and Overthrow Foretold. — Glory of the Chosen City. — The Tri- 
umphal Entry. — The Son of God Overwhelmed with Anguish. — Unbe- 
lief and Ingratitude of Israel. — Jerusalem a Symbol of the World. — A 
Twofold Prophecy. — Christ Warns his Followers. — Portents of Disaster. 
— Escape of the Christians. — The Siege by Titus. — Famine and Suffering. 
— The Sanctuary in Flames. — The City Demolished. — Slaughter and Cap- 
tivity of the People. — A Symbol of the Final Destruction 17-38 

CHAPTER II. 

PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES. 

Paganism against Christianity. — First Martyrs for the Faith. — The Cata- 
combs a Refuge. — Peace Purchased by Compromise. — The Leaven of Idol- 
atry. — Separation of the Faithful. — Why the Gospel Occasions Strife. . . . 

39-48 

CHAPTER III. 

THE APOSTASY. 

The Rise of the Papacy Foretold. — Suppression of the Scriptures. — The 
Rites of Heathenism Adopted. — The Change of God's Commandments. — 
Establishment of Romanism. — Beginning of the Dark Ages. — Infallibility 
of the Church. — The Power of the Pope. — Henry IV. at Canossa. — The 
Boast of Gregory VII. — Pagan and Papal Errors. — The Inquisition. — 
The World under the Rule of Rome -49-60 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE WALDENSES. 

Christians in the Dark Ages. — The Gospel in Great Britain. — Columba at 
Iona. — The Saxons Embrace Romanism. — -Extermination of the Primitive 
Church. — The People of Piedmont and the Papal Power. — The Protesters 
Flee to the Mountains. — The Waldensian Bible. — The Youth Trained for 
Trial. — Missionaries in Disguise. — Crusades against the Vaudois. — The 
Bull of Extermination. — Seed for the Reformation 61-78 

(v) 



Vi CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 

JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

Tokens of Light. —The Morning Star of the Reformation. — Wycliffe's Tal- 
ents and Education. — His Study of the Scriptures. — The Pope's Demand 
for Tribute. — Wycliffe and the Friars. — Ambassador to the Netherlands. 
— He Rebukes the Greed of Rome. — His Death Decreed. — God's Overrul- 
ing Providences. — The Rival Popes. — Wycliffe Translates the Bible. — 
His Arraignment before Three Tribunals. — His Triumphant Defense. — Is 
Summoned to Rome. — His Letter to the Pope. — Close of Wycliffe's Life. 

— Persecution of the Lollards. —The Reformer's Work not Destroyed 

79-96 

CHAPTER VI. 
HUSS AND JEROME. 

The Gospel in Bohemia. — Corruptions of the Hierarchy. — Denounced by 
Huss. — Prague under Interdict.— Jerome Unites with Huss. — Council 
at Constance. — Imprisonment of Huss. — A Prophetic Dream. — The Re- 
former Burned at the Stake. — Arrest of Jerome. — Long Imprisonment 
and Torture. — He Pecants. — He Re-affirms his Faith. — His Noble De- 
fense and Triumphant Death. — Pope and Emperor Unite against Bo- 
hemia. — The Invading Armies Routed.— Rome Resorts to Policy. — Treaty 
with the Bohemians. — Persecution of the Faithful. — The Church of the 
Alps 97-119 

CHAPTER VII.' 

LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 

Luther the Man for his Time. — Early Life. — Severe Discipline. — At the 
University. — Discovery of the Bible. — Conviction of Sin.— He Enters a 
Cloister. — The Chained Bible. — Ordination as a Priest. — Called to Wit- 
tenberg. — Visit to Rome. — Justification by Faith. — Rome's Traffic in the 
Grace of God. — Tetzel and the Indulgences. — The Ninety-five Theses. — 
Melancthon Unites in Reform. — Luther at Augsburg. — Papal Plots. — 
Frederick of Saxony his Protector. — The Reformer Excommunicated. — 
Truth Opposed in All Ages 120-144 

CHAPTER VIII. 

LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 

Charles V. and the Emissaries of Rome. — Demand for Luther's Execution. 
— The Legate's Speech. — Duke George and the Papal Abuses. — The Re- 
former Summoned to Woims. — Welcome at Erfurt. — Treachery Foiled. 



CONTEND. vir 



— Entry to Worms. — Before the Diet. — Luther's Prayer. — Second Appear- 
ance at the Diet.— Kef usal to Retract. — The Emperor's Message.— Efforts 
for Compromise Unavailing.— Luther's Departure from Worms.— Con- 
demned and Outlawed. — A Prisoner in the Wartburg 145-170 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE SWISS REFORMER. 

God's Choice of Instrumentalities — Youth of Ulric Zwingle.— Efforts to 
Make him a Monk. — His Work in the Alpine Parish. — Proclaiming the 
Truth at Einsiedeln. — Labors at Zurich. — Sale of Luther's Writings. — 
Indulgences Condemned. — The "Great Death" Plague. —Fruits of the 
Gospel. — Discussion at Baden. — Eck and CEcolampadius. — Bern and Ba- 
sel Declare for the Reformation 171-1 SI 

CHAPTER X. 
PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 

Effect of Luther's Disappearance. — The Reformation still Advancing. — Pre- 
tended Prophets. — They Set Aside the Bible. — The Reformation on the 
Verge of Ruin. — Luther's Return to Wittenberg. — Fanaticism Checked. 
— Its Subsequent Revival. — Munzer and his Teaching. — Sedition and 
Bloodshed. — Not Chargeable to the Reformation. — Translation of the 
Bible.— The Work of Colporters.— Spread of the True Faith 185-196 

CHAPTER XL 

PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 

The Diet of Spires. — A Dark Day for the Reformation. — The Imperial Mes- 
sage. — Religious Toleration Forbidden. — The Protest. — Importance of its 
Principles. — Danger to the Protesters. — Escape of Grynseus. — The Diet 
at Augsburg. — The Protestant Confession. — Faith and Courage of the 
Princes. — Before the Emperor. — A Glorious Victory. — Prayer the Re- 
formers' Strength , 197-210 

CHAPTER XII. 
THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 

Dawn of the Truth in France. — The Work of Lefevre. — Farel's Conversion. 
—The New Testament Published at Meux. — Rage of the Hierarchy. — ■ 
The Stake Set Up. — Louis Berquin. — The Mutilated Image. — A Noble 
Martyr. — Scenes of the Revolution Foreshadowed. — John Calvin. — Pro- 
tection through the Princess Margaret. — Preaching at the Palace. — Paris 



Viii CONTENTS. 



Moved by the Word of God. — The Truth Rejected. — Posting of the 
Placards. — France Pledged to Exterminate the Heresy. — Flight of the 
Huguenots. — Farel in Switzerland. — The Gospel at Geneva. — Rise of the 
Jesuits. — The Inquisition Re-established. — Geneva and the Reformation. 
211-236 

CHAPTER XIII. 

IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SCANDINAVIA. 

Protest in the Netherlands. — The Waldensian Bible Translated. — Menno 
Simons. — Edicts of Persecution. — Atrocities of the Spanish Kings. — The 
Reformer of Denmark. — The Work in Sweden. — Olaf and Larentius 
Petri. — Sweden a Bulwark of Protestantism. — The Thirty Years' War. — ■ 
Germany Saved from Popery 237-244 

CHAPTER XIV. 
LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 

Tyndale Translates the Bible. — Opposition to his Work. — He Flees to 
Germany. — Printing the New Testament — Its Introduction into En- 
gland. — Tyndale's Imprisonment and Martyrdom. — Latimer Defends the 
Bible.— Other Reformers. — The Bible in Scotland. — John Knox. — Before 
Queen Mary. — The Established Church in England. — Dissenters Perse- 
cuted, — John Bunyan. — Baxter, Flavel, Alleine. — Great Religious De- 
clension. — Whitefield and the Wesleys. — Early Experiences. — The Doc- 
trine of Faith. — Moravian Teachers. — A Light from Bohemia. — Con- 
version of the Wesleys. — Power and Success of their Ministry. — Perse- 
cution of .the Methodists. — Wesley and Antinomianism 245-264 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

Rejection of Light. — Results of Suppressing the Scriptures. — Prophecy of 
the Work of France. — The Two Witnesses. — National Atheism. — Ac- 
tion of the French Assembly. — The Marriage Relation Degraded. — Christ 
Crucified in his Followers. — St. Bartholomew Massacre an Example. — 
War against the Bible. — Blasphemous Rites. — The Goddess of Reason. — 
Romanism and the Revolution. — The Reign of Terror. — Prophecy Ful- 
filled. — The Scriptures Exalted. — Missionary and Bible Societies. — Un- 
precedented Circulation of God's Word 265-288 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

Romish Rites in the Church of England. — Dissenters Seek Liberty in Hol- 
land. — John Robinson's Address to the Pilgrims. — The True Spirit of 



CONTENTS. ix 



Reform. — The Colonists of New England. — Church and State.— Perse- 
cution of Roger Williams. — He Founds Rhode Island. — A Church with- 
out a Pope. — A State without a King. — The Work of Apostasy. .289-298 

CHAPTER XVII. 
HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

The Coming of Christ. — The Hope of True Believers in All Ages. — Signs of 
the Second Advent. — Earthquake of Lisbon. - The Dark Day. — Condi- 
tion of the World and the Church Foretold. — A Solemn Warning. — 
Unfaithful Watchmen. — Israel at the Birth of Christ — Humble Shep- 
herds Receive the Glad Tidings. — Religious Leaders in Darkness. — Re- 
sults of Cherishing Light .'-. .299-316 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 

Early Life of William Miller. — He Becomes a Deist.— His Mental Conflicts. 
— His Conversion. — His Study of the Bible — The Prophecies can be Un- 
derstood. — The Temporal Millennium. — The Personal Advent of Christ. 
— Chronology of the Scriptures. — Miller Presents his Views. — His Preach- 
ing Attended with Power. — Fulfillments of Prophecy. — The Falling of 
the Stars. — The Fall of the Ottoman Empire. — Denouncement of Miller. 
— The Warning of Noah. — Why the Doctrine of Christ's Coming is Dis- 
liked.— Its Effects upon Those who Received It .317-342 

CHAPTER XIX. 

LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS. 

Gods Purposes Imperfectly Comprehended. — Doctrines of Men Blind the 
Mind. — Preaching of Christ's First Advent. — Expectation of the Dis- 
ciples — Their Disappointment at the Death of Christ. — The Disappoint- 
ment Explained. — The Counterpart of their Experience.— The Message 
of the Second Advent. — Disappointment of the Believers. — The Result 
of Popular Error 343-354 

CHAPTER XX. 

A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 

A Striking Symbol. — The Warning of the Judgment. — Joseph Wolff's 
Life and Labors. — Widespread Expectation of the Messiah's Advent. — 
The Message in England. — Bengel's Labors in Germany. — Gaussen in 
France and Switzerland. — Child Preachers in Sweden. — The Work in 
America. — The Warning Received by Thousands 355-374 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

A WARNING REJECTED. 

A Marked Religious Declension. — The Result of Rejecting Light. — Prophecy 
of Rev. 14:8. — Symbol Explained. — Worldliness in the Church — Tes- 
timonies of Eminent Men. — Full Application of the Prophecy yet Future. 
375-390 

CHAPTER XXII. 

PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 

Habakkuk's Prophecy. — The Parable of the Virgins.— The Work of Fanat- 
icism.— The Word of God a Test.— " The Midnight Cry."— Type and 
Antitype.— Character of the Work. — Passing of the Time. — An Unshaken 

Faith. — Encouragement from the Word of God. — Waiting for Light 

391-408 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 

Termination of the Prophetic Periods. — The Earth Not the Sanctuary. — 
The Tabernacle. — The Earthly Sanctuary a Figure of the Heavenly. — 
The Mosaic Service a Type. — Zechariah's Prophecy. — The Cleansing of 
the Sanctuary. — Mediation of Christ. — Close of the Work of Atonement. 
409-422 

- CHAPTER XXIY. 

IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 

The Purpose of God Fulfilled. — The Coming of the Lord to his Temple. — 
A Work of Purification. — Parable of the Virgins Completed. — The Com- 
ing of the Bridegroom. — Going in to the Marriage. — "The Door was 
Shut/'— A Time of Trial 423-432 

CHAPTER XXV. 

GOD'S LAW IMMUTABLE. 

The Temple in Heaven. — The Ark of God's Testament. — The Fourth Com- 
mandment. — A Threefold Warning. — The Standard of Duty. — The Foun- 
dation of Worship.— Symbols of Paganism and the Papacy. — Another 
Power. — Its Peaceful Professions. — A Striking Contradiction. — The Last 
Work of Apostasy. — The World Divided into Two Classes. — What Con- 
stitutes the Distinction 433-450 



(VKYT i:\TS. xi 

CHAPTEE XXVI. 

A WORK OF REFORM. 

Isaiah's Prophecy of Reform. — "Seal the Law. "—The Scripture Explained. 
— The Last Church. — Distinctive Doctrines. — The Truth Unwelcome. — 
Popular Perversions of God's Word.— Time-Setting an Error. — The Cause 
Retarded by Unbelief. — The Duty of Reformers 451-460 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
MODERN REVIVALS. 

Results of Preaching the Word of God. — A Marked Contrast. — Sensation- 
alism in Religion. — The Cause of Errors in Doctrine and Life. — The Law 
and the Gospel. — Antinomian Teachers. — Conversion and Sanctification. 
— The Standard of Holiness. — Sanctification a Progressive Work. — Tem- 
perance and Consecration. — The Christian's Privilege 461-478 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT. 

The Opening of the Judgment. — The Books of Record. — God's Law the Test 
of Character. — Christ our Advocate. — Order of the Judgment. — The 
Blotting Out of Sins. — Satan's Accusations. — The New-Covenant Promise. 
— The Time of the Judgment. — The Antitypical Day of Atonement. — 
Individual Accountability. — Probation Nearly Ended 470-491 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 

A Soubce of Perplexity. — God Not Responsible for Sin. — The Universe be- 
fore the Existence of Evil. — Lucifer, the "Son of the Morning." — His 
Self-Exaltation. — His Policy of Deception. — God is Truth. — His Long- 
suffering Mercy. — Revolt and Banishment of Satan. — Spirit of Rebellion 
among Men. — Satan Accuses God of Injustice. — The Fall of Man. — The 
Atonement. — Demonstration of God's Love. — Christ's Earthly Minis 
try. — Satan's Character Unmasked. — His Destruction Assured. — God's 
Justice Vindicated. — No Cause for Sin Exists 492-504 

CHAPTER XXX. 

ENMITY BETWEEN MAN AND SATAN. 

The First Prophecy. — Antagonism between the Spirit of Christ and the 
Spirit of Satan. — Hatred of the Followers of Christ.— Indifference of 
Christians to their Danger. — Satan's Tireless Vigilance. — Effects of 
Familiarity with Sin. — The Final Conflict 505-510 



xti CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 

The Visible and Invisible Worlds Connected. — The Ministration of Holy 
Angels. — Evil Spirits in League for Man's Destruction. — Their Malignity 
Manifested in the Time of Christ. — Danger of Denying their Existence. 
—The Bible Reveals their Wiles 511-517 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

SNARES OF SATAN. 

How Satan's Plans are Executed. — He Prevents Men from Hearing the Word 
of God. — Accusers of the Brethren. — Fanciful Interpretations of Scripture. 
— "Science Falsely so Called." — Deceptive Doctrines. — Disbelief in the 
Pre-existence of Christ. — N"on-existence of Satan. — Coming of Christ at 
Death. — Miracles Impossible. — Danger of Cherishing Doubt. — Uses of 
Temptation 518-530 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 

The Tempter in Eden. — A Plan for Man's Overthrow. — Death the Penalty 
of Sin. — -Immortality the Gift of God.— Doctrine of Eternal Torment In- 
troduced. — God's Character Misrepresented. — A Cause of Infidelity. — 
Universalism the Opposite Error. — Salvation Conditional. — The Wicked 
Unfit for Heaven. — God's Mercy in their Destruction. — Consciousness 
of the Dead a Fallacy. — What the Bible Teaches. — Belief of Luther and 
Tyndale. — The Judgment and the Resurrection , 531-550 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
SPIRITUALISM. 

Natural Immortality its Foundation. — Materialization a Counterfeit. — Not 
the Result of Trickery. — A Revival of Ancient Witchcraft. — Adapted 
to Ensnare All Classes. — Its Deceptions Unveiled 551-562 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

CHARACTER AND AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 

Romanism Gaining Favor.— A Cause of Apprehension. — Pomp and Splendor 
of her Worship. — Contrast between Christ and the Pope. —Protestants 
Blinded by False Charity. — The Secret of Rome's Power. — An Age of 
Intellectual Light not Unfavorable to her Success. — The Sunday Move- 



CONTENTS. Xiil 

ment. — The First Sunday Law. — The Roll from Heaven.— Pretended 
Miracles. —A I Remarkable Confession. — The Church of Abyssini i. — Rome's 
Enmity toward the Law of Cod. — History of the Past to be Repeated. — 
Purpose of the Romanists 563-581 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE IMPENDING CONFLICT— ITS CAUSES. 

The Great Controversy and the Law of God. — The Last Battle between Tiuth 
and Error. — Rejection of the Bible. — Philosophical Idolatry. — Results of 
Setting Aside God's Law. — Temperance Refcrm and the Sunday Move- 
ment. — Spiritualism. — Satan Appears as a Benefactor. — He Contr Is the 
Elements. — Terrible Calamities. — God's People will be Accu ed as 
Trou lders of the Nation. — Liberty of Conscience Disregarded. — Last 
War upon the Church . . . .582-592 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 

The Detector of Error. — An Understanding of the Prophecies Essential. — 
Dauger of Following Human Leaders. — How to Understand the Script- 
ures. — Why Theologians so Often Err. — Necessity of Prayer. — Every 
Character to be Tested 593-602 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE FINAL WARNING. 

The Mighty Angel. — Application of his Message. — " The Seal of God." — 
Light for All who Seek It. — The Experience of Reformers. — God's Provi- 
dence in the National Councils. — The Closing Work. — World-wide Ex- 
tent. — Power and Glory. — Fruits of Missionary Efforts 603-612 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

"THE TIME OF TROUBLE." 

Christ's Ministration Closes. — The Wrath of Satan.— The Whole World 
against God's Servants. — The Decree of Outlawry. — In Peril and Dis- 
tress. — Illustration from the Time of Jacob's Trouble. — Power of Im- 
portunate Prayer. — The Prophetic Woe. — Supernatural Sights and 
Sounds. — The Crowning Deception. — God's People Forced to Flee. — The 
Mountains a Hiding-place. — Imprisonment and Bondage. — The Righteous 
not Forsaken. — The Unmingled Wrath. — Guardian Angels. — Their Ap- 
pearance in Human Form. — The Promise of Deliverance 613-634 



xiV ('OXTKXTS. 



CHAPTER XL. 
GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 

A Movement for their Destruction. — The Night Attack.— Supernatural 
Darkness. — The Rainbow of God's Glory. — Celestial Voices. — The Sun 
at Midnight. — The Voice of God. — A Mighty Earthquake. — A Special 
Resurrection. — Prophetic Portrayal. — The Star of Hope. — Revelations in 
the Heavens. — The Everlasting Covenant. — "The Sign of the Son of 
Man." — Christ's Coming in Glory. — Resurrection of the Just. — The Re- 
ward of the Righteous. — Before the Throne. — " The Joy of their Lord." — 
Meeting of the Two Adams. — Eden Restored. — The "New Song." — The 
Theme of Redemption 635-652 

CHAPTER XLI. 

DESOLATION OF THE EARTH. 

God's Judgments upon the Wicked. — Their Treasures Swept Away. — False 
Teachers Exposed. — Fury of the Multitudes.— Strife and Carnage. — 
The Earth Made Waste. — The Prison-house of Satan. — A Work of Judg- 
ment 653-661 

CHAPTER XLII. 

THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 

Christ's Return to the Earth. — The Resurrection of the Wicked. — The Mount 
of Olives. — Descent of the New Jerusalem. — Satan's Last Struggle. — 
Christ upon the Throne of his Glory. — The Final Coronation. — The 
Judgment of the Wicked. — The Books of Record. — A Panoramic Por- 
trayal. — The Scenes of Redemption. — The Cross of Calvary. — Results of 
Rebellion. — God's Justice Made Manifest.— The Fire of Destruction. — 
Evil Annihilated.— The Home of the Saved.— The City of God.— The 
Universal Anthem 662-678 

General Notes 679-691 

Biographical Notes 692-704 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives _ Frontispiece 

The Burning of the Temple 17 

The Temple and its Courts 24 

Christians Given to the Wild Beasts 39 

Christians Worshiping in the Catacombs . . 40 

Penance of Henry IV. at Canossa 58 

Waldensian Missionaries 70 

Early Reformers and Martyrs 79 

Jerome Led to Martyrdom 114 

Reformers of the Sixteenth Century 120 

Luther's Protest against Indulgences. . 130 

Luther before the Diet 156 

Swiss Reformers Preaching in the Fields ... . 171 

Luther at the Wartburg 185 

Reading the Protest at the Diet of Spires 202 

English Martyrs under Queen Mary 248 

Wesley Preaching in the Fields 256 

Pope Pius VI. Taken Prisoner in 1798 266 

Street Scene in the French Revolution 282 

English and American Reformers 317 

Diagram of the 70 Weeks and the 2300 Days ... 328 

Joseph Wolff among the Arabs 360 

Chrjst Healing the Demoniac 514 

Proclaiming the Dogma of Papal Infallibility at Rome 563 

The Great Earthquake 613 

Desolation of the Earth , . , „ 653 

(xv) 



The Great Controversy 



CHAPTER I. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 

" If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, 
the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are 
hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, 
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and com- 
pass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall 
lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within 
thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another ; 
because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." 1 

From the crest of Olivet, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem. 
Fair and peaceful was the scene spread out before him. It 
was the season of the Passover, and from all lands the chil- 
dren of Jacob had gathered there to celebrate the great na- 
tional festival. In the midst of gardens and vineyards, and 
green slopes studded with pilgrims' tents, rose the terraced 
hills, the stately palaces, and massive bulwarks of Israel's 
capital. The daughter of Zion seemed in her pride to say, 
" I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow; " as lovely then, and 
deeming herself as secure in Heaven's favor, as when, ages 
before, the royal minstrel sung, " Beautiful for situation, the 
joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion," " the city of the great 
King." 2 In full view w r ere the magnificent buildings of the 
temple. The rays of the setting sun lighted up the snowy 

1 Luke 19 : 42-44. 2 Ps. 4S . 2. 

3 (17) 



18 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



whiteness of its marble walls, and gleamed from golden gate 
and tower and pinnacle. " The perfection of beauty " it stood, 
the pride of the Jewish nation. What child of Israel could 
gaze upon the scene without a thrill of joy and admiration I 
But far other thoughts occupied the mind of Jesus. " When 
he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it." 1 
Amid the universal rejoicing of the triumphal entry, while 
palm branches waved, while glad hosannas awoke the echoes 
of the hills, and thousands of voices declared him king, the 
world's Redeemer was overwhelmed with a sudden and mys- 
terious sorrow. He, the Son of God, the Promised One of 
Israel, whose power had conquered death, and called its 
captives from the grave, was in tears, not of ordinary grief, 
but of intense, irrepressible agony. 

His tears were not for himself, though he well knew whither 
his feet were tending. Before him lay Gethsemane, the scene 
of his approaching agony. The sheep gate also was in sight, 
through which for centuries the victims for sacrifice had been 
led, and which was to open for him when he should be 
" brought as a lamb to the slaughter." 2 Not far distant 
was Calvary, the place of crucifixion. Upon the path which 
Christ was soon to tread must fall the horror of great dark- 
ness as he should make his soul an offering for sin. Yet 
it was not the contemplation of these scenes that cast the 
shadow upon him in this hour of gladness. No foreboding 
of his own superhuman anguish clouded that unselfish 
spirit. He wept for the doomed thousands of Jerusalem — 
because of the blindness and impenitence of those whom 
he came to bless and to save. 

The history of more than a thousand years of God's spe- 
cial favor and guardian care, manifested to the chosen peo- 
ple, was open to the eye of Jesus. There was Mount Moriah, 
where the son of promise, an unresisting victim, had been 
bound to the altar, — emblem of the offering of the Son of 
God. 3 There, the covenant of blessing, the glorious Messianic 

1 Luke 19 : 41. 2 T da . 53 : 7. 3 Gen. 22 : 9. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 19 



promise, had been confirmed to the father of the faithful. 1 
There the flames of the sacrifice ascending to heaven from 
the threshing-floor of Oman had turned aside the sword of 
the destroying angel ' 2 — fitting symbol of the Saviour's sacri- 
fice and mediation for guilty men. Jerusalem had been 
honored of God above all the earth. The Lord had " chosen 
Zion," he had "desired it for his habitation." 3 There, for 
ages, holy prophets had uttered their messages of warning. 
There, priests had waved their censers, and the cloud of 
incense, with the prayers of the worshipers, had ascended 
before God. There daily the blood of slain lambs had been 
offered, pointing forward to the Lamb of God. There, Je- 
hovah had revealed his presence in the cloud of glory above 
the mercy-seat. There rested the base of that mystic ladder 
connecting earth with Heaven, 4 — that ladder upon which 
angels of God descended and ascended, and which opened 
to the world the way into the holiest of all. Had Israel as 
a nation preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem 
would have stood forever, the elect of God. 3 But the history 
of that favored people was a record of backsliding and re- 
bellion. They had resisted Heaven's grace, abused their 
privileges, and slighted their opportunities. 

Although Israel had "mocked the messengers of God, and 
despised his words, and misused his prophets," 6 he had still 
manifested himself to them, as "the Lord God, merciful 
and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and 
truth;" 7 notwithstanding repeated rejections, his mercy had 
continued its pleadings. With more than a father's pitying 
love for the son of his care, God had. "sent to them by his 
messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had 
compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place." 6 
When remonstrance, entreaty, and rebuke had failed, he 
sent to them the best gift of Heaven; nay, he poured out 
all Heaven in that one gift. 

l (ien. 22 : 16-18. 2 1 Chron.21. 3 Ps. 132 : 13. *Gen. 2S : 12; 
*John 1 :51. 5 Jer. 17 : 21-25. 6 2 Chron. 36 : 15, 16. 7 Ex. 34 : 6. 



20 THE GREAT COXTEOYERSY. 



The Son of God himself was sent to plead with the im- 
penitent city. It was Christ that had brought Israel as a 
goodly vine out of Egypt. 1 His own hand had cast out the 
heathen before it. He had planted it "in a very fruitful 
hill." 2 His guardian care had hedged it about. His serv- 
ants had been sent to nurture it. " What could have been 
done more to my vineyard/' he exclaims, " that I have 
not done in it ? " 2 Though when he "looked that it should 
bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes," 2 yet with 
a still yearning hope of fruitfulness he came in person to 
his vineyard, if haply it might be saved from destruction. 
He digged about his vine ; he pruned and cherished it. He 
was unwearied in his efforts to save this vine of his own 
planting. 

For three years the Lord of light and glory had gone in 
and out among his people. " He went about doing good," 
"healing all that were oppressed of the devil," 3 binding up 
the broken-hearted, setting at liberty them that were bound, 
restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk and 
the deaf to hear, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and 
preaching the gospel to the poor. 8 To all classes alike 
was addressed the gracious call, " Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." 4 

Though rewarded with evil for good, and hatred for his 
love, 5 he had steadfastly pursued his mission of mercy. 
Never were those repelled that sought his grace. A home- 
less wanderer, reproach and penury his daily lot, he lived 
to minister to the needs and lighten the woes of men, to 
plead with them to accept the gift of life. The waves of 
mercy, beaten back by those stubborn hearts, returned in a 
stronger tide of pitying, inexpressible love. But Israel had 
turned from her best friend and only helper. The pleadings 
of his love had been despised, his counsels spurned, his warn- 
ings ridiculed. 

1 Ps. SO : 8. 2 Isa. 5:1-4. 3 Acts 10 : 38 ; Luke 4:18; Matt. 11:5. 
i Matt. 11 :28. 5 Ps. 109:5. 



DES TR tTCTlON OF JER USA L EM. 21 



The hour of hope and pardon was fast passing; the cup of 
God's long-deferred wrath was almost full. The cloud that 
had been gathering through ages of apostasy and rebellion, 
now black with woe was about to burst upon a guilty people, 
and He who alone could save them from their impending 
fate had been slighted, abused, rejected, and was soon to be 
crucified. When Christ should hang upon the cross of 
Calvary, Israel's day as a nation favored and blessed of 
God would be ended. The loss of even one soul is a calam- 
ity, infinitely outweighing the gains and treasures of a world; 
but as Christ, looked upon Jerusalem, the doom of a whole 
city, a whole nation, was before him ; that city, that nation 
which had once been the chosen of God, — his peculiar 
treasure. 

Prophets had wept over the apostasy of Israel, and the 
terrible desolations by which their sins were visited. Jere- 
miah wished that his eyes were a fountain of tears, that he 
might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter 
of his people, for the Lord's flock that was carried away cap- 
tive. 1 What, then, was the grief of Him whose prophetic 
glance took in, not years, but ages ! He beheld the destroy- 
ing angel with sword uplifted against the city which had so 
long been Jehovah's dwelling-place. From the ridge of 
Olivet, the very spot afterward occupied by Titus and his 
army, he looked across the valley upon the sacred courts 
and porticoes, and with tear-dimmed eyes he saw, in awful 
perspective, the walls surrounded by alien hosts. He heard 
the tread of armies marshaling for war. He heard the voice 
of mothers and children crying for bread in the besieged 
city. He saw her holy and beautiful house, her palaces and 
towers, given to the flames, and where once they stood, only 
a heap of smouldering ruins. 

Looking down the ages, he saw the covenant people scat- 
tered in every land, "like wrecks on a desert shore." In the 
temporal retribution about to fall upon her children, he saw 

1 Jex. 9:1 ; 13 : 17. 



22 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

but the first draught from that cup of wrath which at the 
final Judgment she must drain to its dregs. Divine pity, 
yearning love, found utterance in the mournful words: " '0 
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that kill est the prophets, and 
stonest them which are -gent unto thee, how often would I 
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth 
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!' 1 Oh 
that thou, a nation favored above every other, hadst known 
the time of thy visitation, and the things that belong unto 
thy peace ! I have stayed the angel of justice, I have called 
thee to repentance, but in vain. It is not merely servants, 
delegates, and prophets, whom thou hast refused and re- 
jected, but the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer. If thou 
art destroyed, thou alone art responsible. ' Ye will not come 
to me, that ye might have life.' " 2 

Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened 
in unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the 
retributive judgments of God. The woes of a fallen race, 
pressing upon his soul, forced from his lips that exceeding 
bitter cry. He saw the record of sin traced in human misery, 
tears, and blood; his heart was moved with infinite pity 
for the afflicted and suffering ones of earth ; he yearned to 
relieve them all. But even his hand might not turn back 
the tide of human woe ; few would seek their only source of 
help. He was willing to pour out his soul unto death, to 
bring salvation within their reach ; but few would come to 
him that they might have life. 

The Majesty of Heaven m tears! the Son of the infinite 
God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The 
scene filled all Heaven with wonder. That scene reveals to 
us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a 
task it is, eA T en for infinite power, to save the guilty from the 
consequences of transgressing the law of God. Jesus, look- 
ing down to the last generation, saw the world involved in 
a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of 

i Matt. 23:37. 2 John5:40. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 23 

Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of 
Christ ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their 
rejection of the law of God, the foundation of his govern- 
ment in Heaven and earth. The precepts of JehoA^ah would 
be despised and set at naught. Millions in bondage to sin. 
slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would 
refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visit- 
ation. Terrible blindness ! strange infatuation ! 

Two days before the Passover, when Christ had for the 
last time departed from the temple, after denouncing the 
hypocrisy of the Jewish rulers, he again went out with his 
disciples to the Mount of Olives, and seated himself with 
them upon a grassy slope overlooking the city. Once more 
he gazed upon its walls, its towers and its palaces. Once 
more he beheld the temple in its dazzling splendor, a dia- 
dem of beauty crowning the sacred mount. 

A thousand years before, the psalmist had magnified God's 
favor to Israel in making her holy house his dwelling-place : 
"In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in 
Zion." 1 He "chose the tribe of Juclah, the Mount Zion 
which he loved. And he built his sanctuary like high pal- 
aces." 2 The first temple had been erected during the most 
prosperous period of Israel's history. Vast stores of treasure 
for this purpose had been collected by King David, and the 
plans for its construction were made by divine inspiration. 3 
Solomon, the wisest of Israel's monarchs, had completed the 
work. This temple was the most magnificent building which 
the world eA-er saw. Yet the Lord had declared by the 
prophet Haggai, concerning the second temple, " The glory 
of this latter house shall be greater than of the former." " I 
will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall 
come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord 
of hosts." 4 

After the destruction of the temple by Xebuchadnezzar. it 

J Ps. 76:2. 2p s . 78 ;68, 69. 3 1 Chron. 28 : 12, 19. 

2 : 9, 7. 



24 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



was rebuilt about five hundred years before the birth of 
Christ, by a people who from a life-long captivity had re- 
turned to a wasted and almost deserted country. There 
were then among them aged men who had seen the glory 
of Solomon's temple, and who wept at the foundation of the 
new building, that it must be so inferior to the former. The 
feeling that prevailed is forcibly described by the prophet: 
"Who is left among you that saw this house in her first 
glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes 
in comparison of it as nothing?" 1 Then was given the 
promise that the glory of this latter house should be greater 
than that of the former. 

But the second temple had not equaled the first in mag- 
nificence; nor was it hallowed by those visible tokens of the 
divine presence which pertained to the first temple. There 
was no manifestation of supernatural power to mark its 
dedication. No cloud of glory was seen to fill the newly 
erected sanctuary. No fire from Heaven descended to con- 
sume the sacrifice upon its altar. The shekinah no longer 
abode between the cherubim in the most holy place; the 
ark, the mercy-seat, and the tables of the testimony were 
not to be found therein. No voice sounded from Heaven to 
make known to the inquiring priest the will of Jehovah. 

For centuries the Jews had vainly endeavored to show 
wherein the promise of God given by Haggai, had been 
fulfilled ; yet pride and unbelief blinded their minds to the 
true meaning of the prophet's words. The second temple 
was not honored with the cloud of Jehovah's glory, but with 
the living presence of One in whom dwelt the fullness of 
the Godhead bodily, — who was God himself manifest in the 
flesh. The " Desire of all nations " had indeed come to his 
temple when the Man of Nazareth taught and healed in the 
sacred courts. In the presence of Christ, and in this only, 
did the second temple exceed the first in glory. But Israel 
had put from her the proffered 'gift of Heaven. With the 

1 Hag. 2 : 3. 








m 



The first temple, erected by Solomon, was com- 
pleted b. c. 1004. In b. c. 588, soon after the be- 
ginning of the seventy years' captivity in Baby- 
lon, it was destroyed by the army of Nebuchad- 
nezzar. After the return of the Jews to their 
own land, the temple was rebuilt, on a somewhat 
larger scale, by Zerubbabel, b. c. 516. Five hun- 
dred years later it was restored and enlarged by 
Herod, who began the work about 20 b. c. Herod 
retained, in the sanctuary, the same dimensions 
^ as in that of Zerubbabel, but he added greatly to 
the size and magnificence of the courts. The 
temple inclosure was so extended as to form an 
area of nearly a thousand feet square. The clois- 
ters surrounding the outer court are said to have 
been, in an architectural point of view, the most 
magnificent part of the entire structure. A series 
of terraced courts ascended to the holy house it- 
self, which faced eastward, and was approached 
from the east, though the principal gateways in 
the outer inclosure were on the west. This tem- 
ple was destroyed a. d. 70. 



THE TEMPLE AND ITS COURTS. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM 25 



humble Teacher who had that clay passed out from its 
golden gate, the glory had forever departed from the temple. 
Already were the Saviour's words fulfilled, "Your house is 
left unto you desolate." 1 

The disciples had been filled with awe and wonder at 
Christ's prediction of the overthrow of the temple, and they 
desired to understand more fully the meaning of his words. 
Wealth, labor, and architectural skill had for more than 
forty years been freely expended to enhance its splendors. 
Herod the Great had lavished upon it both Roman wealth 
and Jewish treasure, and even the emperor of the world had 
enriched it with his gifts. Massive blocks of white marble, 
of almost fabulous size, forwarded from Rome for this pur- 
pose, formed a part of its structure; and to these the dis- 
ciples had called the attention of their Master, saying, "See 
what manner of stones and what buildings are here ! " 2 

To these words, Jesus made the solemn and startling 
reply, "Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here 
one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." 3 

With the overthrow of Jerusalem the disciples associated 
the events of Christ's personal coming in temporal glory to 
take the throne of universal empire, to punish the impeni- 
tent Jews, and to break from off the nation the Roman yoke. 
The Lord had told them that he would come the second 
time. Hence at the mention of judgments upon Jerusalem, 
their minds reverted to that coming, and as they were gath- 
ered about the Saviour upon the Mount of Olives, they 
asked, " When shall these things be? and what shall be the 
sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? " 4 

The future was mercifully veiled from the disciples. Had 
they at that time fully comprehended the two awful facts,- — 
the Redeemer's sufferings and death and the destruction of 
their city and temple, — they would have been overwhelmed 
with horror. Christ presented before them an outline of the 

1 Matt. 23 : 38. 2 Mark 13:1. 3 Matt. 24 : 2. 

i Matt. 24:3. 



26 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

prominent events to take place before the close of time. His 
words were not then fully understood; but their meaning 
was to be unfolded as his people should need the instruction 
therein given. The prophecy which he uttered was twofold 
in its meaning: while foreshadowing the destruction of 
Jerusalem, it prefigured also the terrors of the last great day. 

Jesus declared to the listening disciples the judgments that 
were to fall upon apostate Israel, and especially the retrib- 
utive vengeance that would come upon thern for their re- 
jection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Unmistakable signs 
would precede the awful climax. The dreaded hour would 
come suddenly and swiftly. And the Saviour warned his 
followers: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of 
desolation, spoken of b}^ Daniel the prophet, stand in the 
holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand), then let 
them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." 1 When 
the idolatrous standards of the Romans should be set up in 
the holy ground, wilich extended some furlongs outside the 
city walls, then the followers of Christ were to find safety in 
flight. When the warning sign should be seen, those who 
would escape must make no delay. Throughout the land 
of Judea, as well as in Jerusalem itself, the signal for flight 
must be immediately obeyed. He who chanced to be upon 
the housetop must not go down into his house, even to save 
his most valued treasures. Those who were working in the 
fields or vineyards must not take time to return for the 
outer garment laid aside while they should be toiling in the 
heat of the day. They must not hesitate a moment, lest 
they be involved in the general destruction. 

In the reign of Herod, Jerusalem had not only been 
greatly beautified, but by the erection of towers, walls, and 
fortresses, adding to the natural strength of its situation, it 
had been rendered apparently impregnable. He who would 
at this time have foretold publicly its destruction, would, 
like Noah in his day, have been called a crazed alarmist. 

1 Matt. 24 : 15, 16 ; Luke 21 : 20. 



destruction of Jerusalem. 27 



But Christ had said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, 
but my words shall not pass away." 1 Because of her sins, 
wrath had been denounced against Jerusalem, and her stub- 
born unbelief rendered her doom certain. 

The Lord had declared by the prophet Micah : " Hear this, 
I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of 
the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all 
equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with 
iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the 
priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine 
for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is 
not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us."' 2 

These words faithfully described the corrupt and self- 
righteous inhabitants of Jerusalem. While claiming to rig- 
idly observe the precepts of God's law, they were transgress- 
ing all its principles. They hated Christ because his purity 
and holiness revealed their iniquity ; and they accused him 
of being the cause of all the troubles which had come upon 
them in consequence of their sins. Though they knew him 
to be sinless, they had declared that his death was necessary 
to their safety as a nation. " If we let him thus alone," said 
the Jewish leaders, " all men will believe on him ; and the 
Romans shall come and take away both our place and 
nation." 3 If Christ were sacrificed, they might once more 
become a strong, united people. Thus they reasoned, and 
they concurred in the decision of their high priest, that it 
would be better for one man to die than for the whole nation 
to perish. 

Thus the Jewish leaders had "built up Zion with blood, 
and Jerusalem with iniquity." And yet, while they slew 
their Saviour because he reproved their sins, such was their 
self-righteousness that they regarded themselves as God's 
favored people, and expected the Lord to deliver them from 
their enemies. "Therefore," continued the prophet, "shall 
Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall 

1 Matt. 24 : 35. * Micah 3:9-11. 3 John 1 1 : 48. 



28 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high 
places of the forest." 1 

For forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had been pro- 
nounced by Christ himself, the Lord delayed his judgments 
upon the city and the nation. Wonderful was the long- 
suffering of God toward the rejecters of his gospel and the 
murderers of his Son. The parable of the unfruitful tree 
represented God's dealings with the Jewish nation. The 
command had gone forth, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it 
the ground?" 2 but divine mercy had spared it yet a little 
longer. There were still many among the Jews who were 
ignorant of the character and the work of Christ. And the 
children had not enjoyed the opportunities or received the 
light which their parents had spurned. Through the preach- 
ing of the apostles and their associates, God would cause 
light to shine upon them ; they would be permitted to see 
how prophecy had been fulfilled, not only in the birth and 
life of Christ, but in his death and resurrection. The chil- 
dren were not condemned for the sins of the parents; but 
when, with a knowledge of all the light given to their par- 
ents, the children rejected the additional light granted to 
themselves, they became partakers of the parents' sins, and 
filled up the measure of their iniquity. 

The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem only con- 
firmed the Jews in their stubborn impenitence. In their 
hatred and cruelty toward the disciples of Jesus, they re- 
jected the last offer of mercy. Then God withdrew his pro- 
tection from them, and removed his restraining power from 
Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control 
of the leader she had chosen. Her children had spurned 
the grace of Christ, which would have enabled them to sub- 
due their evil impulses, and now these became the con- 
querors. Satan aroused the fiercest and most debased pas- 
sions of the soul. Men did not reason ; they were beyond 
reason, — controlled by impulse and blind rage. They be- 

1 Micah 3 : 12. 2 Luke 13 : 7. 



/> ES TR UCTION OF JER USA L EM. 29 



came Satanic in their cruelty. In the family and in the 
nation, among the highest and the lowest classes alike, there 
was suspicion, envy, hatred, strife, rebellion, murder. There 
was no safety anywhere. Friends and kindred betrayed one 
another. Parents slew their children, and children their 
parents. The rulers of the people had no power to rule 
themselves. Uncontrolled passions made them tyrants. 
The Jews had accepted false testimony to condemn the inno- 
cent Son of God. Now false accusations made their own 
lives uncertain. By their actions they had long been say- 
ing, "Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us." 1 
Now their desire was granted. The fear of God no longer 
disturbed them. Satan was at the head of the nation, and 
the highest civil and religious authorities were under his 
sway. 

The leaders of the opposing factions at times united to 
plunder and torture their wretched victims, and again they 
fell upon ea^h other's forces, and slaughtered without mercy. 
Even the sanctity of the temple could not restrain their hor- 
rible ferocity. The worshipers were stricken down before 
the altar, and the sanctuary was polluted with the bodies of 
the slain. Yet in their blind and blasphemous presumption 
the instigators of this hellish work publicly declared that 
they had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it 
was God's own city. To establish their power more firmly, 
they bribed false prophets to proclaim, even while Roman 
legions were besieging the temple, that the people were to 
wait for deliverance from God. To the last, multitudes held 
fast to the belief that the Most High would interpose for the 
defeat of their adversaries. But Israel had spurned the 
divine protection, and now she had no defense. Unhappy 
Jerusalem! rent by internal dissensions, the blood of her 
children slain by one another's hands crimsoning her streets, 
while alien armies beat down her fortifications and slew her 
men of war ! 

^sa. 30: 11. 



30 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



All the predictions given by Christ concerning the de- 
struction of Jerusalem were fulfilled to the letter. The Jews 
experienced the truth of his words of warning, " With what 
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." 1 

Signs and wonders appeared, foreboding disaster and doom. 
In the midst of the night an unnatural light shone over the 
temple and the altar. Upon the clouds at sunset were pict- 
ured chariots and men of war gathering for battle. The 
priests ministering by night in the sanctuary were terrified 
by mysterious sounds ; the earth trembled, and a multitude 
of voices were heard crying, "Let us depart hence." The 
great eastern gate, which was so heavy that it could hardly 
be shut by a score of men, and which was secured by im- 
mense bars of iron fastened deep in the pavement of solid 
stone, opened at midnight, without visible agency. 

For seven years a man continued to go up and down the 
streets of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come 
upon the city. By day and by night he chanted the wild 
dirge, "A voice from the east; a voice from the west; a voice 
from the four winds; a voice against Jerusalem and the 
temple; a voice against the bridegroom and the bride; and 
a voice against all the people." This .strange being was 
imprisoned and scourged ; but no complaint escaped his lips. 
To insult and abuse he answered only, " Woe to Jerusalem ! 
woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!" His warning cry 
ceased not until he was slain in the siege he had foretold. 

Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. 
Christ had given his disciples warning, and all who believed 
his words watched for the promised sign. " When ye shall 
see Jerusalem compassed with armies," said Jesus, "then 
know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them 
which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them 
which are in the midst of it depart out." 2 After the Romans 
under Cestius had surrounded the city, they unexpectedly 
abandoned the siege when everything seemed favorable for 

1 Matt. 7:2. * Luke 21 : 20, 21. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 31 



an immediate attack. The besieged, despairing of successful 
resistance, were on the point of surrender, when the Roman 
general withdrew his forces, without the least apparent 
reason. But God's merciful providence was directing events 
for the good of his own people. The promised sign had 
been given to the waiting Christians, and now an oppor- 
tunity was afforded for all who would to obey the Saviour's 
warning. Events were so overruled that neither Jews nor 
Romans should hinder the flight of the Christians. Upon 
the retreat of Cestius, the Jews, sallying from Jerusalem, 
pursued after his retiring army, and while both forces were 
thus fully engaged, the Christians had an opportunity to 
leave the city. At this time the country also had been 
cleared of enemies who might have endeavored to, intercept 
them. At the time of the siege, the Jews were assembled at 
Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and thus the 
Christians throughout the land w T ere able to. make their 
escape unmolested. Without delay they fled to a place of 
safety, — the city of Pella, in the land of Perea, beyond 
Jordan. 

The Jewish forces, pursuing after Cestius and his army, 
fell upon their rear with such fierceness as to threaten them 
with total destruction. It was with great difficulty that the 
Romans succeeded in making their retreat. The Jews es- 
caped almost without loss, and with their spoils returned in 
triumph to Jerusalem. Yet this apparent success brought 
them only evil. It inspired them with that spirit of stub- 
born resistance to the Romans which speedily brought un- 
utterable woe upon the doomed city. 

Terrible were the calamities that fell upon Jerusalem when 
the siege w T as resumed by Titus. The city was invested at 
the time of the Passover, when millions of Jews were as- 
sembled within its walls. Their stores of provision, which 
if carefully preserved would have supplied the inhabitants 
for years, had previously been destroyed through the jealousy 
and revenge of the contending factions, and now all the hor- 

4 



32 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

rors of starvation were experienced. A measure of wheat 
was sold for a talent. So fierce were the pangs of hunger 
that men would gnaw the leather of their belts and sandals 
and the covering of their shields. Great numbers of the 
people would steal out at night to gather wild plants grow- 
ing outside the city walls, though many were seized and 
put to death with cruel torture, and often those who returned 
in safety were robbed of w T hat they had gleaned at so great 
peril. The most inhuman tortures were inflicted by those 
in power, to force from the want-stricken people the last 
scanty supplies wdiich they might have concealed. And 
these cruelties w T ere not infrequently practiced by men who 
were themselves well fed, and who were merely desirous of 
laying up a store of provision for the future. 

Thousands perished from famine and pestilence. Natural 
affection seemed to have been destroyed. Husbands robbed 
their wives, and wives their husbands. Children would be 
seen snatching the food from the mouths of their aged par- 
ents. The question of the prophet, "Can a woman forget 
her sucking child?" 1 received the answer within the walls 
of that doomed city, " The hands of the pitiful women have 
sodden their own children; they were their meat in the 
destruction of the- daughter of my people," 2 Again w T as 
fulfilled the warning prophecy given fourteen centuries be- 
fore: "The tender and delicate woman among you, which 
would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the 
ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil 
toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and 
toward her daughter; . . . and toward her children 
which she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all 
things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine 
enemy shall distress thee in thy gates." 3 

The Roman leaders endeavored to strike terror to the 
Jew T s, and thus cause them to surrender. Those prisoners 
who resisted when taken, were scourged, tortured, and cruci- 

1 Isa. 49 : 15* 2 Lam. 4:10. 3 Dent. 28 : 56, 57. 



/) ES TR I T CriON OF JER l r S. 1 /, AM/: 33 



ried before the wall of the city. Hundreds were daily put 
to death in this manner, and the dreadful work continued 
until, along the valley of Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, 
crosses were erected in so great numbers that there was 
scarcely room to move among them. So terribly was visited 
that awful imprecation uttered before the judgment-seat of 
Pilate: "His blood be on us, and on our children." 1 

Titus would willingly have put an end to the fearful 
scene, and thus have spared Jerusalem the full measure of 
her doom. He was filled with horror as he saw the bodies 
of the dead lying in heaps in the valleys. Like one en- 
tranced, he looked from the crest of Olivet upon the mag- 
nificent temple, and gave command that not one stone of it 
be touched. Before attempting to gain possession of this 
stronghold, he made an earnest appeal to the Jewish leaders 
not to force him to defile the sacred place with blood. If 
they would come forth and fight in any other place, no Ro- 
man should violate the sanctity of the temple. Josephus 
himself, in a most eloquent appeal, entreated them to sur- 
render, to save themselves, their city, and their place of 
worship. But his words were answered with bitter curses. 
Darts were hurled at him, their last human mediator, as he 
stood pleading with them. The Jews had rejected the en- 
treaties of the Son of God, and now expostulation and en- 
treaty only made them more determined to resist to the last. 
In vain were the efforts of Titus to save the temple ; One 
greater than he had declared that not one stone was to be 
left upon another. 

The blind obstinacy of the Jewish leaders, and the de- 
testable crimes perpetrated within the besieged city, excited 
the horror and indignation of the Romans, and Titus at last 
decided to take the temple by storm. He determined, how- 
ever, that if possible it should be saved from destruction. 
But his commands were disregarded. After he had retired 
to his tent at night, the Jews, sallying from the temple, at- 

1 Matt. 27 : 23, 



34 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

tucked the soldiers without. In the struggle, a firebrand 
was flung by a soldier through an opening in the porch, and 
immediately the cedar-lined chambers about the holy house 
were in a blaze. Titus rushed to the place, followed by his 
generals and legionaries, and commanded the soldiers to 
quench the flames. His words were unheeded. In their 
fury the soldiers hurled blazing brands into the chambers 
adjoining the temple, and then with their swords they 
slaughtered in great numbers those avIio had found shelter 
there. Blood flowed down the temple steps like water. 
Thousands upon thousands of Jews perished. Above the 
sound of battle, voices were heard shouting, " Ichabod ! "- — 
the glory is departed. 

" Titus found it impossible to check the rage of the sol- 
diery; he entered with his officers, and surveyed the interior 
of the sacred edifice. The splendor filled them with wonder • 
and as the flames had not yet penetrated to the holy place, 
he made a last effort to save it, and springing forth, again 
exhorted the soldiers to stay the progress of the conflagration. 
The centurion Liberalis endeavored to enforce obedience with 
his staff of office; but even respect for the emperor gave way 
to the furious animosity against the Jews, to the fierce ex- 
citement of battle, and to the insatiable hope of plunder. 
The soldiers saw everything around them radiant with gold, 
which shone dazzlingly in the wild light of the flames; they 
supposed that incalculable treasures were laid up in the 
sanctuary. A soldier, unperceived, thrust a lighted torch 
between the hinges of the door; the whole building was in 
flames in an instant. The blinding smoke and fire forced 
the officers to retreat, and the noble edifice was left to its 
fate. 

" It was an appalling spectacle to the Roman ; what was 
it to the Jew? The whole summit of the hill which com- 
manded the city blazed like a volcano. One after another 
the buildings fell in, with a tremendous crash, and were 
swallowed up in the fiery abyss. The roofs of cedar were 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 35 

like sheets of flame; the gilded pinnacles shone like spikes 
of red light; the gate lowers sent up tall columns of flame 

and smoke. The neighboring hills were lighted up; and 
dark groups of people were seen watching in horrible anxiety 
the progress of the destruction ; the walls and heights of the 
upper city were crowded with faces, some pale with the 
agony of despair, others scowling unavailing vengeance. 
The shouts of the Roman soldiery as they ran to and fro, 
and the bowlings of the insurgents who were perishing in 
the flames, mingled with the roaring of the conflagration 
and the thundering sound of falling timbers. The echoes 
of the mountains replied or brought back the shrieks of the 
people on the heights; all along the walls resounded screams 
and wailings; men who were expiring with famine rallied 
their remaining strength to utter a cry of anguish and des- 
olation. 

" The slaughter within was even more dreadful than the 
spectacle from without. Men and women, old and young, 
insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who en- 
treated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. 
The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The 
legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on 
the work of extermination." 

After the destruction of the temple, the whole city soon 
fell into the hands of the Romans. The leaders of the Jews 
forsook their impregnable towers, and Titus found them sol- 
itary. He gazed upon them with amazement, and declared 
that God had given them into his hands; for no engines, 
however powerful, could have prevailed against those stu- 
pendous battlements. Both the city and the temjDle were 
razed to their foundations, and the ground upon which the 
holy house had stood was "plowed like a field." 1 In the 
siege and the slaughter that followed, more than a million 
of the people perished ; the survh T ors were carried away as 
captives, sold as slaves, dragged to Rome to grace the con- 

Mer. 26:18. 



36 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

queror's triumph, thrown to wild beasts in the amphithea- 
ters, or scattered as homeless wanderers throughout the earth. 

The Jews had forged their own fetters ; they had filled for 
themselves the cup of vengeance. In the utter destruction 
that befell them as a nation, and in all the woes that fol- 
lowed them in their dispersion, they were but reaping the 
harvest which their own hands had sown. Says the prophet, 
"0 Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;" "for thou hast 
fallen by thine iniquity." 1 Their sufferings are often rep- 
resented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct 
decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver seeks to 
conceal his own work. By stubborn rejection of divine love 
and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be 
withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them 
according to his will. The horrible cruelties enacted in the 
destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan's vin- 
dictive power over those who yield to his control. 

We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace 
and protection which we enjoy. It is the restraining power 
of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the 
control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have 
great reason for gratitude for God's mercy and long-suffering 
in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil 
one. But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, 
that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the 
sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgres- 
sion; but he leaves the rejecters of his mercy to themselves, 
to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light 
rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion 
indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed 
sown, which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, 
persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, 
and then there is left no power to control the evil passions 
of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity 
of Satan. The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and 

UIos. 13:9; 11:1. 



DESTurcriox of Jerusalem. 



solemn warning to all who arc trilling with the offers of 
divine grace, and resisting the pleadings of divine mercy. 
Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God's 
hatred of sin, and to the certain punishment that will fall 
upon the guilty. 

The Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judg- 
ments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of 
which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In 
the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a 
world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled upon his 
law. Dark are the records of human misery that earth has 
witnessed during its long centuries of crime. The heart 
sickens and the mind grows faint in contemplation. Ter- 
rible have been the results of rejecting the authority of 
Heaven. But a scene yet darker is presented in the revela- 
tions of the future. The records of the past, — the long pro- 
cession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions, the "battle of 
the warrior, with confused noise, and garments rolled in 
blood," l — what are these, in contrast with the terrors of that 
day when the restraining Spirit of God shall be wholly with- 
drawn from the wicked, no longer to hold in check the 
outburst of human passion and Satanic wrath ! The world 
will then behold, as never before, the results of Satan's rule. 

But in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem's destruction, 
God's people will be delivered, "every one that shall be 
found written among the living." Christ has declared that 
he will come the second time, to gather his faithful ones to 
himself: "Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, 
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of 
heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his 
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall 
gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end 
of heaven to the other." 2 Then shall they that obey not 
the gospel be consumed with the spirit of his mouth, and 
be destroyed with the brightness of his coming. 3 Like Israel 
1 Isa. 9:5. z Matt. 2-4 : 30, 31. 3 2 Thess. 2 : 8. 



38 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



of old, the wicked destroy themselves; they fall by their 
iniquity. By a life of sin, they have placed themselves so 
out of harmony with God, their natures have become so 
debased with evil, that the manifestation of his glory is to 
them a consuming fire. - 

Let men beware lest they neglect the lesson conveyed to 
them in the words of Christ. As he warned his disciples of 
Jerusalem's destruction, giving them a sign of the approach- 
ing ruin, that they might make their escape, so he has 
warned the world of the day of final destruction, and has 
given them tokens of its approach, that all who will may 
flee from the wrath to come. Jesus declares, " There shall 
be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars ; and 
upon the earth distress of nations." 1 Those who behold 
these harbingers of his coming are to " know that it is near, 
even at the doors." 2 "Watch ye therefore," 3 are his words 
of admonition. They that heed the warning shall not be 
left in darkness, that that day should overtake them un- 
awares. But to them that will not watch, " the day of the 
Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." i 

The world is no more ready to credit the message for this 
time than were the Jews to receive the -Saviour's warning 
concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day of God 
will come unawares to the ungodly. When life is going on 
in its unvarying round ; when men are absorbed in pleasure, 
in business, in traffic, in money-making; when religious 
leaders are magnifying the world's progress and enlighten- 
ment, and the people are lulled in a false security, — then, as 
the midnight thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so 
shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and un- 
godly, " and they shall not escape." 4 

1 Luke 21 : 25 ; Matt. 24 : 29 ; Mark 13 : 24-26 ; Rev. 6 : 12-17. 

2 Matt. 24 : 33. 3 Mark 13 : 35. 4 1 Thess. 5 : 2-5. 



CHAPTER II. 



PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES. 

When Jesus revealed to his disciples the fate of Jerusalem 
and the scenes of the second advent, he foretold also the ex- 
perience of his people from the time when he should be 
taken from them, to his return in power and glory for their 
deliverance. From Olivet the Saviour beheld the storms 
about to fall upon the apostolic church, and, penetrating 
deeper into the future, his eye discerned the fierce, wasting 
tempests that were to beat upon his followers in the coming 
ages of darkness and persecution. In a few brief utterances, 
of awful significance, he foretold the portion which the rul- 
ers of this world would mete out to the church of God. 1 
The followers of Christ must tread the same path of humili- 
ation, reproach, and suffering which their Master trod. The 
enmity that burst forth against the world's Redeemer, would 
be manifested against all who should believe on his name. 

The history of the early church testified to the fulfillment 
of the Saviour's words. The powers of earth and hell ar- 
rayed themselves against Christ in the person of his follow- 
ers. Paganism foresaw that should the gospel triumph, 
her temples and altars would be swept away; therefore she 
summoned her forces to destroy Christianity. The fires of 
persecution were kindled. Christians were stripped of their 
possessions, and driven from their homes. They " endured 
a great fight of afflictions." 2 They "had trial of cruel mock- 

1 Matt. 24 : 9, 21 , 22. 2 Heb. 1 : 32. 

(39) 



40 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



ings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprison- 
ment" 1 Great numbers sealed their testimony with their 
blood. Noble and slave, rich and poor, learned and igno- 
rant, were alike slain without mercy. 

These persecutions, beginning under Nero about the time 
of the martyrdom of Paul, continued with greater or less 
fury for centuries. Christians were falsely accused of the 
most dreadful crimes, and declared to be the cause of great 
calamities — famine, pestilence, and earthquake. As they 
became the objects of popular hatred and suspicion, inform- 
ers stood ready, for the sake of gain, to betray the innocent. 
They were condemned as rebels against the empire, as foes 
of religion, and pests to society. Great numbers were thrown 
to wild beasts or burned alive in the amphitheaters. Some 
were crucified ; others were covered with the skins of wild 
animals, and thrust into the arena to be torn by dogs. 
Their punishment was often made the chief entertainment 
at public fetes. Vast multitudes assembled to enjoy the 
sight, and greeted their dying agonies with laughter and 
applause. 

Wherever they sought refuge, the followers of Christ were 
hunted like beasts of prey. They were forced to seek con- 
cealment in desolate and solitary places. "Destitute, af- 
flicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy; they 
wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and 
caves of the earth." 1 The catacombs afforded shelter for 
thousands. Beneath the hills outside the city of Rome, long 
galleries had been tunneled through earth and rock; the 
dark and intricate network of passages extended for miles 
beyond the city walls. In these underground retreats, the 
followers of Christ buried their dead; and here also, when 
suspected and proscribed, they found a home. When the 
Lifegiver shall awaken those who have fought the good fight, 
many a martyr for Christ's sake will come forth from those 
gloomy caverns. 

x Beb. 11 : 313, 37, 38. 



PERSECUTION IX THE FIRST CENTURIES. 41 



Under the fiercest persecution, these witnesses for Jesus 
kept their faith unsullied. Though deprived of every com- 
fort, shut away from the light of the sun, making their 
home in the dark but friendly bosom of the earth, they 
uttered no complaint. With words of faith, patience, and 
hope, they encouraged one another to endure privation and 
distress. The loss of every earthly blessing could not force 
them to renounce their belief in Christ. Trials and persecu- 
tion were but steps bringing them nearer their rest and 
their reward. 

Like God's servants of old, many were " tortured, not ac- 
cepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resur- 
rection." * These called to mind the words of their Master, 
that when persecuted for Christ's sake they were to be ex- 
ceeding glad; for great would be their reward in Heaven; 
for so the prophets had been persecuted before them. They 
rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the 
truth, and songs of triumph ascended from the midst of 
crackling flames. Looking upward by faith, they saw Christ 
and angels leaning over the battlements of Heaven, gazing 
upon them with the deepest interest, and regarding their 
steadfastness with approval. A voice came down to them 
from the throne of God, " Be thou faithful unto death, and 
I will give thee a crown of life." 2 

In vain were Satan's efforts to destroy the church of Christ 
by violence. The great controversy in which the disciples 
of Jesus yielded up their lives, did not cease when these 
faithful standard-bearers fell at their post. By defeat they 
conquered. God's workmen were slain, but his work went 
steadily forward. The gospel continued to spread, and the 
number of its adherents to increase. It penetrated into 
regions that were inaccessible, even to the eagles of Rome. 
Said a Christian, expostulating with the heathen rulers who 
were urging forward the persecution : " You may torment, 
afflict, and vex us. Your wickedness puts our weakness to 
^eb. 11:35, 2 Rev. 2:10. 



42 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

the test, but your cruelty is of no avail. It is but a stronger 
invitation to bring others to our persuasion. The more we 
are mowed down, the more we spring up again. The blood 
of the Christians is seed." 

Thousands were imprisoned and slain ; but others sprung 
up to fill their places. And those who were martyred for 
their faith were secured to Christ, and accounted of him as' 
conquerors. They had fought the good fight, and they were 
to receive the crown of glory when Christ should come. 
The sufferings which they endured brought Christians nearer 
to one another and to their Redeemer. Their living ex- 
ample and dying testimony were a constant witness for the 
truth ; and, where least expected, the subjects of Satan were 
leaving his service, and enlisting under the banner of Christ. 

Satan therefore laid his plans to war more successfully 
against the government of God, by planting his banner in 
the Christian church. If the followers of Christ could be 
deceived, and led to displease God, then their strength, forti- 
tude, and firmness would fail, and they would fall an easy 
prey. 

The great adversary now endeavored to gain by artifice 
what he had failed to secure by force. Persecution ceased, 
and in its stead were substituted the dangerous allurements 
of temporal prosperity and worldly honor. Idolaters were 
led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they re- 
jected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus 
as the Son of God, and to believe in his death and resurrec- 
tion; but they had no conviction of sin, and felt no need 
of repentance or of a change of heart, With some conces- 
sions on their part, they proposed that Christians should 
make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of 
belief in Christ. 

Now the church was in fearful peril. Prison, torture, fire, 
and sword were blessings in comparison with this. Some of 
the Christians stood firm, declaring that they could make no 
compromise. Others were in favor of yielding or modifying 



PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES. 43 

some features of their faith, and uniting with those who had 
accepted a part of Christianity, urging that this might be 
the means of their full conversion. That was a time of deep 
anguish to the faithful followers of Christ. Under a cloak 
of pretended Christianity, Satan was insinuating himself 
into the church, to corrupt their faith, and turn their minds 
from the Word of truth. 

Most of the Christians at last consented to lower their 
standard, and a union was formed between Christianity and 
paganism. Although the worshipers of idols professed to be 
converted, and united with the church, they still clung to 
their idolatry, only changing the objects of their worship to 
images of Jesus, and even of Mary and the saints. The foul 
leaven of idolatry, thus brought into the church, continued 
its baleful work. Unsound doctrines, superstitious rites, and 
idolatrous ceremonies were incorporated into her faith and 
worship. As the followers of Christ united with idolaters, 
the Christian religion became corrupted, and the church lost 
her purity and power. There were some, however, who 
were not misled by these delusions. They still maintained 
their fidelity to the Author of truth, and worshiped God 
alone. 

There have ever been two classes among those who pro- 
fess to be followers of Christ. While one class study the 
Saviour's life, and earnestly seek to correct their defects and 
to conform to the Pattern, the other class shun the plain, 
practical truths which expose their errors. Even in her best 
estate, the church was not composed wholly of the true, pure, 
and sincere. Our Saviour taught that those who willfully 
indulge in sin are not to be received into the church ; yet he 
connected with himself men who were faulty in character, 
and granted them the benefits of his teachings and example, 
that they might have an opportunity to see their errors and 
correct them. Among the twelve apostles was a traitor. 
Judas was accepted not because of his defects of character, 
but notwithstanding them. He was connected with the dis- 



44 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



ciples, that, through the instruction and example of Christ, 
he might learn what constitutes Christian character, and 
thus be led to see his errors, to repent, and, by the aid of di- 
vine grace, to purify his soul "in obeying the truth." But 
Judas did not walk in the light so graciously permitted to 
shine upon him. By indulgence in sin, he invited the temp- 
tations of Satan. His evil traits of character became pre- 
dominant. He yielded his mind to the control of the powers 
of darkness, he became angry when his faults were reproved, 
and thus he was led to commit the fearful crime of betraying 
his Master. So do all who cherish evil under a profession 
of godliness hate those who disturb their peace by condemn- 
ing their course of sin. When a favorable opportunity is 
presented, they will, like Judas, betray those who for their 
good have sought to reprove them. 

The apostles encountered those in the church who pro- 
fessed godliness while they were secretly cherishing iniquity. 
Ananias and Sapphira acted the part of deceivers, pretend- 
ing to make an entire sacrifice for God, when they were cov- 
etously withholding a portion for themselves. The Spirit of 
truth revealed to the apostles the real character of these 
pretenders, and the judgments of God rid the church of this 
foul blot upon its purity. This signal evidence of the 
discerning Spirit of Christ in the church was. a terror to 
hypocrites and evil-doers. They could not long remain in 
connection with those who were, in habit and disposition, 
constant representatives of Christ; and as trials and perse- 
cution came upon his followers, those only who were willing 
to forsake all for the truth's sake desired to become his dis- 
ciples. Thus, as long as persecution continued, the church 
remained comparatively pure. But as it ceased, converts 
were added who were less sincere and devoted, and the way 
was opened for Satan to obtain a foot-hold. 

But there is no union between the Prince of light and the 
prince of darkness, and there can be no union between their 
followers. When Christians consented to unite with those 



PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES. 45 

who were but half converted from paganism, they entered 
upon a path which led farther and farther from the truth. 
Satan exulted that he had succeeded in deceiving so large a 
number of the followers of Christ. He then brought his 
power to bear more fully upon these, and inspired them to 
persecute those who remained true to God. None under- 
stood so well how to oppose the true Christian faith as did 
those who had once been its defenders; and these apostate 
Christians, uniting with their half-pagan companions, di- 
rected their warfare against the most essential features of 
the doctrines of Christ. 

It required a desperate struggle for those who would be 
faithful to stand firm against the deceptions and abomina- 
tions which were disguised in sacerdotal garments and in- 
troduced into the church. The Bible was not accepted as 
the standard of faith. The doctrine of religious freedom 
was termed heresy, and its upholders were hated and pro- 
scribed. 

After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few decided 
to dissolve all union with the apostate church if she still 
refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They 
saw that separation was an absolute necessity if they would 
obey the Word of God. They dared not tolerate errors fatal 
to their own souls, and set an example which would imperil 
the faith of their children and children's children. To 
secure peace and unity they were ready to make any con- 
cession consistent with fidelity to God; but they felt that 
even peace would be too dearly purchased at the sacrifice of 
principle. If unity could be secured only by the compro- 
mise of truth and righteousness, then let there be difference, 
and even war. 

Well would it be for the church and the world if the prin- 
ciples that actuated those steadfast souls were revived in the 
hearts of God's professed people. There is an alarming in- 
difference in regard to the doctrines which are the pillars of 
the Christian faith. The opinion is gaining ground, that, 



46 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

after all, these are not of vital importance. This degeneracy 
is strengthening the hands of the agents of Satan, so that 
false theories and fatal delusions which the faithful in ages 
past imperiled their lives to resist and expose, are now re- 
garded with favor by thousands who claim to be followers 
of Christ. 

The early Christians were indeed a peculiar people. Their 
blameless deportment and unswerving faith were a continual 
reproof that disturbed the sinner's peace. Though few in 
numbers, without wealth, position, or honorary titles, they 
were a terror to evil-doers wherever their character and doc- 
trines were known. Therefore they were hated by the 
wicked, even as Abel was hated by the ungodly Cain. For 
the same reason that Cain slew Abel did those who sought 
to throw off the restraint of the Holy Spirit, put to death 
Cod's people. It was for the same reason that the Jews re- 
jected and crucified the Saviour, — because the purity and 
holiness of his character was a constant rebuke to their self- 
ishness and corruption. From the days of Christ until now, 
his faithful disciples have excited the hatred and opposition 
of those who love and follow the ways of sin. 

How, then, can the gospel be called a message of peace ? 
When Isaiah foretold the birth of the Messiah, he ascribed 
to him the title, " Prince of peace." When angels announced 
to the shepherds that Christ was born, they sung above the 
plains of Bethlehem, " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
earth peace, good will toward men." x There is a seeming 
contradiction between these prophetic declarations and the 
words of Christ, "I came not to send peace, but a sword." 2 
But rightly understood, the two are in perfect harmony. 
The gospel is a message of peace. Christianity is a system, 
which, received and obeyed, would spread peace, harmony, 
and happiness throughout the earth. The religion of Christ 
will unite in close brotherhood all who accept its teachings. 
It was the mission of Jesus to reconcile men to God, and 
1 Luke 2: 14. 2 Matt. 10:34. 



PERSECUTION IN THE FTRST CENTURIES. 47 



thus to one another. But the world at large are under the 
control of Satan, Christ's bitterest foe. The gospel presents 
to them principles of life which are wholly at variance with 
their habits and desires, and they rise in rebellion against 
it. They hate the purity which reveals and condemns their 
sins, and they persecute and destroy those who would urge 
upon them its just and holy claims. It is in this sense — 
because the exalted truths it brings, occasion hatred and 
strife — that the gospel is called a sword. 

The mysterious providence which permits the righteous 
to suffer persecution at the hand of the wicked, has been a 
cause of great perplexity to many who are weak in faith. 
Some are even ready to cast away their confidence in God, 
because he suffers the basest of men to prosper, while the 
best and purest are afflicted and tormented by their cruel 
power. How, it is asked, can One who is just and merciful, 
and who is also infinite in power, tolerate such injustice and 
oppression ? This is a question with which we have nothing 
to do. God has given us sufficient evidence of his love, and 
we are not to doubt his goodness because we cannot under- 
stand the workings of his providence. Said the Saviour to 
his disciples, foreseeing the doubts that would press upon 
their souls in days of trial and darkness, " Remember the 
word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than 
his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also perse- 
cute you." 1 Jesus suffered for us more than any of his 
followers can be made to suffer through the cruelty of wicked 
men. Those who are called to endure torture and martyrdom, 
are but following in the steps of God's dear Son. 

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise." 2 He 
does not forget or neglect his children ; but he permits the 
wicked to reveal their true character, that none who desire 
to do his will may be deceived concerning them. Again, 
the righteous are placed in the furnace of affliction, that they 
themselves may be purified; that their example may con- 
1 John 15: 20. 2 2 Peter 3: 9. 



48 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

vince others of the reality of faith and godliness; and also 
that their consistent course may condemn the ungodly and 
unbelieving. 

God permits the wicked to prosper, and to reveal their 
enmity against him, that when they shall have filled up the 
measure of their iniquity, all may see his justice and mercy 
in their utter destruction. The day of his vengeance hastens, 
when all who have transgressed his law and oppressed his 
people will meet the just recompense of their deeds; when 
every act of cruelty or injustice toward God's faithful ones 
will be punished as though done to Christ himself. 

There is another and more important question that should 
engage the attention of the churches of to-day. The apostle 
Paul declares that " all that will live godly in Christ Jesus 
shall suffer persecution." l Why is it, then, that persecution 
seems in a great degree to slumber? — The only reason is, 
that the church has conformed to the world's standard, and 
therefore awakens no opposition. The religion which is 
current in our day is not of the pure and holy character 
that marked the Christian faith in the days of Christ and 
his apostles. It is only because of the spirit of compromise 
with sin, because the great truths of the Word of God are 
so indifferently regarded, because there is so little vital god- 
liness in the church, that Christianity is apparently so pop- 
ular with the world. Let there be a revival of the faith and 
power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution will, 
be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled. 

l 2 Tim. 3 : 12. 



CHAPTER III 



THE APOSTASY. 

The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalo- 
niansj foretold the great apostasy which would result in the 
establishment of the papal power. He declared that the 
day of Christ should not come, " except there come a falling 
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of per- 
dition ; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is 
called God, or that is worshiped ; so that he as God sitteth 
in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 1 
And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that " the 
mystery of iniquity doth already work." l Even at that 
early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors that 
would prepare the way for the development of the papacy. 

Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then 
more openly as it increased in strength and gained control 
of the minds of men, the mystery of iniquity carried for- 
ward its deceptive and blasphemous work. Almost imper- 
ceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into 
the Christian church. The spirit of compromise and con- 
formity was restrained for a time by the fierce persecutions 
which the church endured under paganism. But as perse- 
cution ceased, and Christianity entered the courts and pal- 
aces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ 
and his apostles for the pomp and pride of pagan priests 
and rulers; and in place of the requirements of God, she 
substituted human theories and traditions. The nominal 

1 2 Thess. 2 : 3, 4, 7. 

(49) 



50 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



conversion of Constantino, in the early part of the fourth 
century, caused great rejoicing; and the world, cloaked with 
a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now 
the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while 
appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her 
spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, 
and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and wor- 
ship of the professed followers of Christ. 

This compromise between paganism and Christianity re- 
sulted in the development of the "man of sin" foretold in 
prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. 
That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of 
Satan's power, — a monument of his efforts to seat himself 
upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will. 

Satan once endeavored to form a compromise with Christ. 
He came to the Son of God in the wilderness of temptation, 
and, showing him all the kingdoms of the world and the 
glory of them, offered to give all into his hands if he would 
but acknowledge the supremacy of the prince of darkness. 
Christ rebuked the presumptuous tempter, and forced him 
to depart. But Satan meets with greater success in present- 
ing the same temptations to man. To secure worldly gains 
and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and sup- 
port of the great men of earth, and having thus rejected 
Christ, she was induced to yield allegiance to the represent- 
ative of Satan, — the bishop of Rome. 

It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the 
pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, 
invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors 
in all parts of the world. More than this, the pope has 
arrogated the very titles of Deity. He styles himself " Lord 
God the Pope," assumes infallibility, and demands that all 
men pay him homage. Thus the same claim urged by 
Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him 
through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready 
to yield him homage. 



THE APOSTASY. 51 



But those who fear and reverence God meet this Heaven- 
daring assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the 
wily foe: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him 
only shalt thou serve." 1 God has never given a hint in his 
Word that he has appointed any man to be the head of the 
church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly op- 
posed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can 
have no power over Christ's church except by usurpation. 

Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants 
the charge of heresy, and willful separation from the true 
church. But these accusations apply rather to themseh'es. 
They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ, and 
departed from "the faith which was once delivered unto 
the saints." 2 

Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures would enable 
men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It 
t was by the Word that even the Saviour of the world had 
W resisted his attacks. At every assault, Christ presented the 
shield of eternal truth, saying, "It is written." To every 
suggestion of the adversary, he opposed the wisdom and 
power of the Word. In order for Satan to maintain his 
sway over men, and establish the authority of the papal 
usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of the Scriptures. 
The Bible would exalt God, and place finite men in their 
/ true position ; therefore its sacred truths must be concealed 
and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the Roman 
Church. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible 
was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to 
have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates 
interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus 
the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as 
tire vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority 
over Church and State. 

The detector of error bavins; been removed, Satan worked 
according to his will. Prophecy had declared that the pa- 
1 Luke 4: 8. 2 Jude 3. 



52 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



pacy was to "think to change times and laws.'' 1 This work 
it was not slow to attempt. To afford converts from heathen- 
ism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to pro- 
mote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration 
of images and relics was gradually introduced into the 
Christian worship. The decree of a general council 2 finally 
established this system of idolatry. To complete the sacri- 
legious work, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of 
God the second commandment, forbidding image worship, 
and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve 
the number. 

The spirit of concession to paganism opened the way for 
a still further disregard of Heaven's authority. Satan tam- 
pered with the fourth commandment also, and essayed to 
set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day which God had 
blessed and sanctified, 3 and in its stead to exalt the festival 
observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." 
This change was not at first attempted openly. In the first 
centuries the true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. 
They were jealous for the honor of God, and, believing that 
his law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness 
of its precepts. But with great subtlety, Satan worked 
through his agents to bring about his object. That the 
attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it 
was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. 
Religious services were held upon it ; yet it was regarded as 
a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly ob- 
served. 

To prepare the way for the work which he designed to 
accomplish, Satan had led the Jews, before the advent of 
Christ, to load down the Sabbath with the most rigorous 
exactions, making its observance a burden. Now, taking 
advantage of the false light in which he had thus caused it 
to be regarded, he cast contempt upon it as a Jewish insti- 
tution. AVhile Christians continued to observe the Sunday 
1 Dan. 7 : 25. 2 Second Council of Nice, a. d. 787. 3 Gen. 2 : 2, 3. 



THE APOSTASY. 53 



as a joyous festival, he led them, in order to show their 
hatred of Judaism, to make the Sabbath a fast, a day of 
sadness and gloom. 

In the early part of the fourth century, the emperor Con- 
stantino issued a decree making Sunday a public festival 
throughout the Roman Empire. 1 The day of the sun was 
reverenced by his pagan subjects, and was honored by Chris- 
tians; it was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting 
interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was urged to 
do this by the bishops of the church, who, inspired by ambi- 
tion, and thirst for power, perceived that if the same day was 
observed by both Christians and the heathen, it would pro- 
mote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans, and 
thus advance the power and glory of the church. ' But while 
Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possess- 
ing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath 
as the holy of the Lord, and observed it in obedience to the 
fourth commandment. 

The arch-deceiver had not completed his work. He was 
resolved to gather the Christian world under his banner, 
and to exercise his power through his vicegerent, the proud 
pontiff who claimed to be the representative of Christ. 
Through half-converted pagans, ambitious prelates, and 
world-loving churchmen, he accomplished his purpose. 
Vast councils were held, from time to time, in which the 
dignitaries of the church were convened from all the world. 
In nearly every council the Sabbath which God had insti- 
tuted was pressed down a little lower, while the Sunday was 
correspondingly exalted. Thus the pagan festival came 
finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible 
Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observ- 
ers were declared to be accursed. 

The great apostate had succeeded in exalting himself 
" above all that is called God, or that is worshiped.''' 2 He 
had dared to change the only precept of the divine law that 
unmistakably points all mankind to the true and living 

1 See Appendix, Xote 1. 2 2 Thess. 2 : 4. 



54 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



God. In the fourth commandment, God is revealed as the 
Creator of the heavens and the earth, and is thereby distin- 
guished from all false gods. It was as a memorial of the 
work of creation that the seventh day was sanctified as a 
rest-day for man. It was designed to keep the living God 
ever before the minds of men as the source of being and 
the object of reverence and worship. Satan strives to turn 
men from their allegiance to God, and from rendering obe- 
dience to his law; therefore he directs his efforts especially 
against that commandment which points to God as the 
Creator. 

Protestants now urge that the resurrection of Christ on 
Sunday made it the Christian Sabbath. But Scripture evi- 
dence is lacking. No such honor was given to the day by 
Christ or his apostles. The observance of Sunday as a 
Christian institution had its origin in that " mystery of law- 
lessness" 1 which, even in Paul's day, had begun its work. 
Where and when did the Lord adopt this child of the 
papacy? What valid reason can be given for a change 
which the Scriptures do not sanction? 

In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly estab- 
lished. Its seat of power was fixed in . the imperial city, 
and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over 
the entire church. Paganism had given place to the pa- 
pacy. The dragon had given to the beast "his power, and 
his seat, and great authority." 2 And now began the 1260 
years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel 
and the Revelation. 3 Christians were forced to choose, either 
to yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and 
worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeons or suffer 
death by the rack, the fagot, or the headsman's ax. Now 
were fulfilled the words of Jesus, "Ye shall be betrayed 
both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; 
and some of you shall they cause to be rjut to death. And 
ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." 4 Perse- 

1 2 Thess. 2 : 7, revised version. 2 Rev. 13:2; see Appendix, Note 2. 
3 Dan.7:25; Rev. 13:5-7. * Luke 21 : 16, 17. 



THE APOSTASY. 55 



cution opened upon the faithful With greater fury than ever 
before, and the world became a vast battle-field. For hun- 
dreds of years the church of Christ found refuge in seclusion 
and obscurity. Thus says the prophet: " The woman fled 
into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, 
that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and 
threescore days." * 

The accession of the Roman Church to power, marked the 
beginning of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the 
darkness deepened. Faith w T as transferred from Christ, the 
true foundation, to the pope of Rome. Instead of trusting 
in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal sal- 
vation, the people looked to the pope, and to the priests and 
prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were taught 
that the pope was their earthly mediator, and that none 
could approach God except through him, and, further, that 
he stood in the place of God to them, and was therefore to 
be implicitly obeyed. A deviation from his requirements 
was sufficient cause for the severest punishment to be visited 
upon the bodies and souls of the offenders. Thus the minds 
of the people were turned away from God to fallible, erring,, 
and cruel men, nay more, to the prince of darkness himself,, 
who exercised his power through them. Sin was disguised 
in a garb of sanctity. When the Scriptures are suppressed, 
and man comes to regard himself as supreme, we need look 
only for fraud, deception, and debasing iniquity. With the 
elevation of human laws and traditions, was manifest the 
corruption that ever results from setting aside the law of 
God. 

Those were days of peril for the church of Christ. The 
faithful standard-bearers were few indeed. Though the 
truth was not left wuthout witnesses, yet at times it seemed 
that error and superstition would wholly prevail, and true 
religion would be banished from the earth. The gospel was 
lost sight of, but the forms of religion were multiplied, and 
the people were burdened with rigorous exactions. 

x Rev. 12:6. 



56 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

They were taught not only to look to the pope as their 
mediator, but to trust to works of their own to atone for sin. 
Long pilgrimages, acts of penance, the worship of relics, the 
erection of churches, shrines, and altars, the payment of 
large sums to the church, — these and many similar acts 
were enjoined to appease the wrath of God or to secure his 
favor; as if God were like men, to be angered at trifles, or 
pacified by gifts or acts of penance ! 

Notwithstanding that vice prevailed, even among the 
leaders of the Romish Church, her influence seemed steadily 
to increase. About the close of the eighth century, papists 
put forth the claim that in the first ages of the church the 
bishops of Rome had possessed the same spiritual power 
which they now assumed. To establish this claim, some 
means must be employed to give it a show of authority ; and 
this was readily suggested by the father of lies. Ancient 
writings were forged by monks. Decrees of councils before 
unheard of were discovered, establishing the universal su- 
premacy of the pope from the earliest times. And a church 
that had rejected the truth, greedily accepted these decep- 
tions. 

The few faithful builders upon the true foundation 1 were 
perplexed and hindered, as the rubbish of false doctrine 
obstructed the work. Like the builders upon the wall of 
Jerusalem in Nehemiah's day, some were ready to say, " The 
strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is 
much rubbish, so that we are not able to build." 2 Wearied 
with the cgnstant struggle against persecution, fraud, iniquity, 
and every other obstacle that Satan could devise to hinder 
their progress, some who had been faithful builders became 
disheartened; and for the sake of peace and security for their 
property and their lives they turned away from the true 
foundation. Others, undaunted by the opposition of their 
enemies, fearlessly declared, "Be not ye afraid of them; 
remember the Lord, which is great and terrible; 3 and they 

n Cor. 3:10, 11. 2 Xeh. 4:10. 3 Neh. 4:14. 



THE APOSTASY, 57 



proceeded with the work, every one with his sword girded 
by his side. 1 

The same spirit of hatred and opposition to the truth has 
inspired the enemies of God in every age, and the same 
vigilance and fidelity have been required in his servants. 
The words of Christ to the first disciples are applicable to 
his followers to the close of time : " What I say unto you I 
say unto all, Watch." 2 

The darkness seemed to grow more dense. Image worship 
became more general. Candles were burned before images, 
and prayers were offered to them. The most absurd and 
superstitious customs prevailed. The minds of men were so 
completely controlled by superstition that reason itself seemed 
to have lost her sway. While priests and bishops were them- 
selves pleasure-loving, sensual, and corrupt, it could only be 
expected that the people who looked to them for guidance 
would be sunken in ignorance and vice. 

Another step in papal assumption was taken, when, in the 
eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII. proclaimed the per- 
fection of the Romish Church. Among the propositions 
which he put forth, was one declaring that the church had 
never erred, nor would it ever err, according to the Script- 
ures. But the Scripture proofs did not accompany the as- 
sertion. The proud pontiff next claimed the power to depose 
emperors, and declared that no sentence which he pronounced 
could be reversed by any one, but that it was his prerogative 
to reverse the decisions of all others. 

A striking illustration of the tyrannical character of this 
advocate of infallibility was given in his treatment of the 
German emperor, Henry IV, For presuming to disregard 
the pope's authority, this monarch was declared to be ex- 
communicated and dethroned. Terrified by the desertion 
and threats of his own princes, who were encouraged in re- 
bellion against him by the papal mandate, Henry felt the 
necessity of making his peace with Rome. In company 
^Eph. 6:17. 2 Mark 13: 37. 



58 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

with his wife and a faithful servant, he crossed the Alps in 
midwinter, that he might humble himself before the pope. 
Upon reaching the castle whither Gregory had withdrawn, 
he was conducted, without his guards, into an outer court, 
and there, in the severe cold of winter, with uncovered head 
and naked feet, and in a miserable dress, he awaited the 
pope's permission to come into his presence. Not until he 
had continued three days fasting and making confession, 
did the pontiff condescend to grant him jmrdon. Even then 
it was only upon condition that the emperor should await 
the sanction of the pope before resuming the insignia or 
exercising the power of royalty. And Gregory, elated with 
his triumph, boasted that it was his duty " to pull down the 
pride of kings." 

How striking the contrast between the overbearing pride 
of this haughty pontiff and the meekness and gentleness of 
Christ, who represents himself as pleading at the door of the 
heart for admittance, that he may come in to bring pardon 
and peace, and who taught his disciples, " Whosoever will 
be chief among you, let him be your servant." * 

The advancing centuries witnessed a constant increase of 
error in the doctrines put forth from Rome. Even before 
the establishment of the papacy, the teachings of heathen 
philosophers had received attention and exerted an influence 
in the church. Many who professed conversion still clung 
to the tenets of their pagan philosophy, and not only con- 
tinued its study themselves, but urged it upon others as a 
means of extending their influence among the heathen. 
Serious errors were thus introduced into the Christian faith. 
Prominent among these was the belief in man's natural 
immortality and his consciousness in death. This doctrine 
laid the foundation upon which Rome established the in- 
vocation of saints and the adoration of the virgin Mary. 
From this sprung also the heresy of eternal torment for the 
finally impenitent, which was early incorporated into the 
papal faith. \ 

Then the way was prepared for the introduction of still 

i Matt. 20:27. 



THE APOSTASK 59 



another invention of paganism, which Rome named purga- 
tory, and employed to terrify the credulous and superstitious 
multitudes. By this heresy is affirmed the existence of a 
place of torment, in which the souls of such as have not 
merited eternal damnation are to suffer punishment for their 
sins, and from which, when freed from impurity, the} r are 
admitted to Heaven. 

Still another fabrication was needed to enable Rome to 
profit by the fears and the vices of her adherents. This was 
supplied by the doctrine of indulgences. Full remission of 
sins, past, present, and future, and release from all the pains 
and penalties incurred, were promised to all who would 
enlist in the pontiff's wars to extend his temporal dominion, 
to punish his enemies, or to exterminate those who dared 
deny his spiritual supremacy. The people were also taught 
that by the payment of money to the church they might free 
themselves from sin, and also release the souls of their de- 
ceased friends who were confined in the tormenting flames. 
By such means did Borne fill her coffers, and sustain the 
magnificence, luxury, and vice of the pretended represent- 
atives of Him who had not where to lay his head. 

The scriptural ordinance of the Lord's supper had been 
supplanted by the idolatrous sacrifice of the mass. Papist 
priests pretended, by their senseless mummery, to convert 
the simple bread and wine into the actual body and blood 
of Christ. With blasphemous presumption, they openly 
claimed the power of " creating God, the Creator of all 
things." All Christians were required, on pain of death, 
to avow their faith in this horrible, Heaven-insulting heresy. 
Multitudes who refused were given to the flames. 

In the thirteenth century was established that most terrible 
of all the engines of the papacy, — the Inquisition. The 
prince of darkness wrought with the leaders of the papal 
hierarchy. In their secret councils, Satan and his angels 
controlled the minds of evil men, while unseen in the midst 
stood an angel of God, taking the fearful record of their in- 
iquitous decrees, and writing the history of deeds too hor- 



60 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

rible to appear to human eyes. " Babylon the great " was 
" drunken with the blood of the saints." The mangled forms 
of millions of martyrs cried to God for vengeance upon that 
apostate power. 

Popery had become the world's despot. Kings and emper- 
ors bowed to the decrees of the Roman pontiff. The destinies 
of men, both for time and for eternity, seemed under his con- 
trol. For hundreds of years the doctrines of Rome had been 
extensively and implicitly received, its rites reverently per- 
formed, its festivals generally observed. Its clergy were hon- 
ored and liberally sustained. Never since has the Roman 
Church attained to greater dignity, magnificence, or power. 

The noontide of the papacy w r as the world's moral mid- 
night. The Holy Scriptures were almost unknown, not only 
to the people, but to the priests. Like the Pharisees of old, 
the papist leaders hated the light which would reveal their 
sins. God's law, the standard of righteousness, having been 
removed, they exercised power without limit, and practiced 
vice without restraint. Fraud, avarice, and profligacy pre- 
vailed. Men shrank from no crime by which they could 
gain wealth or position. The palaces of popes and prelates 
were scenes of the vilest debauchery. Some of the reigning 
pontiffs were guilty of crimes so revolting that secular rulers 
endeavored to depose these dignitaries of the church as 
monsters too vile to be tolerated. For centuries Europe had 
made no progress in learning, arts, or civilization. A moral 
and intellectual paralysis had fallen upon Christendom. 

The condition of the world under the Romish power pre- 
sented a fearful and striking fulfillment of the words of the 
prophet Hosea: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowl- 
edge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also 
reject thee; . . . seeing thou hast forgotten the law of 
thy God, I will also forget thy children." "There is no 
truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By 
swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and commit- 
ting adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood." 1 
Such were the results of banishing the Word of God. 

1 Hosea 4: 6, 1,2. 



CHAPTER IV 



THE WALDENSES. 

Amid the gloom that settled upon the earth during the 
long period of papal supremacy, the light of truth could not 
be wholly extinguished. In every age there were witnesses 
for God, — men who cherished faith in Christ as the only 
mediator between God and man, who held the Bible as the 
only rule of life, and who hallowed the true Sabbath. How 
much the world owes to these men, posterity will never 
know. They were branded as heretics, their motives im- 
pugned, their characters maligned, their writings suppressed, 
misrepresented, or mutilated. Yet they stood firm, and from 
age to age maintained their faith in its purity, as a sacred 
heritage for the generations to come. 

The history of God's people during the ages of darkness 
that followed upon Rome's supremacy, is written in Heaven. 
But they have little place in human records. Few traces 
of their existence can be found, except in the accusations 
of their persecutors. It was the policy of Rome to obliter- 
ate every trace of dissent from her doctrines or decrees. 
Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, was de- 
stroyed. A single expression of doubt, a question as to the 
authority of papal dogmas, was enough to forfeit the life of 
rich or poor, high or low. Rome endeavored also to destroy 
every record of her cruelty toward dissenters. Papal coun- 
cils decreed that books and writings containing such records 
should be committed to the flames. Before the invention 
of printing, books were few in number, and in a form not 
favorable for preservation ; therefore there was little to pre- 
vent the Romanists from carrying out their purpose. 

(61) 



62 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

No church within the limits of Romish jurisdiction was 
long left undisturbed in the enjoyment of freedom of con- 
science. No sooner had the papacy obtained power than 
she stretched out her arms to crush all that refused to ac- 
knowledge her sway ; and one after another, the churches 
submitted to her dominion. 

In Great Britain, primitive Christianity had very early 
taken root. The gospel received by the Britons in the first 
centuries, was then uncorrupted by Homish apostasy. Per- 
secution from pagan emperors, which extended even to these 
far-off shores, was the only gift that the first churches of 
Britain received from Rome. Many of the Christians, flee- 
ing from persecution in England, found refuge in Scotland ; 
thence the truth was carried to Ireland, and in all these 
countries it was received with gladness. 

"When the Saxons invaded Britain, heathenism gained 
control. The conquerors disdained to be instructed by 
their slaves, and the Christians were forced to retreat to the 
mountains and the wild moors. Yet the light, hidden for 
a time, continued to burn. In Scotland, a century later, it 
shone out with a brightness that extended to far-distant 
lands. From Ireland came the pious Columba and his co- 
laborers, who, gathering about them the scattered believers 
on the lonely island of Iona, made this the center of their 
missionary labors. Among these evangelists was an ob- 
server of the Bible Sabbath, and thus this truth was intro- 
duced among the people. A school was established at Iona, 
from which missionaries went out, not only to Scotland and 
England, but to Germany, Switzerland, and even Italy. 

But Rome had fixed her eyes on Britain, and resolved 
to bring it under her supremacy. In the sixth century 
her missionaries undertook the conversion of the heathen 
Saxons. They were received with favor by the proud bar- 
barians, and they induced many thousands to profess the 
Romish faith. As the work progressed, the papal leaders 
and their converts encountered the primitive Christians. 



THE WALDENSES. 63 

A striking contrast was presented. The latter were simple, 
humble, and scriptural in character, doctrine, and manners, 
while the former manifested the superstition, pomp, and 
arrogance of popery. The emissary of Rome demanded 
that these Christian churches acknowledge the supremacy 
of the sovereign pontiff. The Britons meekly replied that 
they desired to love all men, but that the pope was not en- 
titled to supremacy in the church, and they could render to 
him only that submission which was due to every follower 
of Christ. Repeated attempts were made to secure their 
allegiance to Rome; but these humble Christians, amazed 
at the pride displayed by her emissaries, steadfastly replied 
that they knew no other master than Christ. Now the true 
spirit of the papacy was revealed. Said the Romish leader, 
" If you will not receive brethren who bring you peace, you 
shall receive enemies who will bring you war. If you will 
not unite with us in showing the Saxons the way of life, 
you shall receive from them the stroke of death." These 
were no idle threats. War, intrigue, and deception were 
employed against these witnesses for a Bible faith, until the 
churches of Britain were destroyed, or forced to submit to 
the authority of the pojDe. 

In lands beyond the jurisdiction of Rome, there existed 
for many centuries bodies of Christians who remained al- 
most wholly free from papal corruption. They were sur- 
rounded by heathenism, and in the lapse of ages were 
affected by its errors ; but they continued to regard the Bible 
as the only rule of faith, and adhered to many of its truths. 
These Christians believed in the perpetuity of the law of 
God, and observed the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. 
Churches that held to this faith and practice, existed in 
Central Africa and among the Armenians of Asia. 

But of those who resisted the encroachments of the papal 
power, the AValdenses stood foremost. In the very land 
where popery had fixed its seat, there its falsehood and cor- 
ruption were most steadfastly resisted. For centuries the 



64 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

churches of Piedmont maintained their independence; but 
the time came at last when Rome insisted upon their sub- 
mission. After ineffectual struggles against her tyranny, 
the leaders of these churches reluctantly acknowledged the 
supremacy of the power to which the whole world seemed 
to pay homage. There were some, however, who refused to 
yield to the authority of pope or prelate. They were de- 
termined to maintain their allegiance to God, and to preserve 
the purity and simplicity of their faith. A separation took 
place. Those who adhered to the ancient faith now with- 
drew; some, forsaking their native Alps, raised the banner 
of truth in foreign lands; others retreated to the secluded 
glens and rocky fastnesses of the mountains, and there pre- 
served their freedom to worship God. 

The faith which for many centuries was held and taught 
by the Waldensian Christians was in marked contrast to 
the false doctrines put forth from Rome. Their religious 
belief was founded upon the written word of God, the true 
system of Christianity. But those humble peasants, in their 
obscure retreats, shut away from the world, and bound to 
daily toil among their flocks and their vineyards, had not 
themselves arrived at the truth in opposition to the dogmas 
and heresies of the apostate church. Theirs was not a faith 
newly received. Their religious belief was their inheritance 
from their fathers. They contended for- the faith of the 
apostolic church, — " the faith which was once delivered to 
the saints." " The church in the wilderness," and not the 
proud hierarchy enthroned in the world's great capital, was 
the true church of Christ, the guardian of the treasures of 
truth which God has committed to his people to be given 
to the world. 

Among the leading causes that had led to the separation 
of the true church from Rome, was the hatred of the latter 
toward the Bible Sabbath. As foretold by prophecy, the 
papal power cast down the truth to the ground. The law 
of God was trampled in the dust, while the traditions and 



THE WALDENSES. <>5 



customs of men were exalted. The churches that were J 
under the rale of the papacy were early compelled to honor 
the Sunday as a holy day. Amid the prevailing error and 
superstition, many, even of the true people of God, became 
so bewildered that while they observed the Sabbath they 
refrained from labor also on the Sunday. But this did not 
satisfy the papal leaders. They demanded not only that 
Sunday be hallowed, but that the Sabbath be profaned ; and 
they denounced in the strongest language those who dared 
to show it honor. It was only by fleeing from the power of 
Rome that any could obey God's law in peace. 

The Waldenses were the first of all the peoples of Europe 
to obtain a translation of the Holy Scriptures. Hundreds of 
years before the Reformation, they possessed the Bible in 
manuscript in their native tongue. They had the truth 
unadulterated, and this rendered them the special objects 
of hatred and persecution. They declared the Church of 
Rome to be the apostate Babylon of the Apocalypse, and at 
the peril of their lives they stood up to resist her corruptions. 
While, under the pressure of long-continued persecution, 
some compromised their faith, little by little yielding its 
distinctive principles, others held fast the truth. Through 
ages of darkness and apostasy, there were Waldenses who 
denied the supremacy of Rome, who rejected image worship 
as idolatry, and who kept the true Sabbath. Under the 
fiercest tempests of opposition they maintained their faith. 
Though gashed by the Savoyard snear, and scorched by the 
Romish fagot, they stood unflinchingly for God's Word and 
his honor. 

Behind the lofty bulwarks of the mountains, — in all ages 
the refuge of the persecuted and oppressed, — the Waldenses 
found a hiding-place. Here the light of truth was kept 
burning amid the darkness of the Middle Ages. Here, for 
a thousand years, witnesses for the truth maintained the 
ancient faith. 

God had provided for his people a sanctuary of awful 



66 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

grandeur, befitting the mighty truths committed to their 
trust. To those faithful exiles the mountains were an em- 
blem of the immutable righteousness of Jehovah. They 
pointed their children to the heights towering above them 
in unchanging majesty, and spoke to them of Him with 
whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning, whose 
word is as enduring as the everlasting hills. God had set 
fast the mountains, and girded them with strength ; no arm 
but that of infinite power could move them out of their 
place. In like manner he had established his law, the 
foundation of his government in Heaven and upon earth. 
The arm of man might reach his fellow-men and destroy 
their lives ; but that arm could as readily uproot the mount- 
ains from their foundations, and hurl them into the sea, as 
it could change one precept of the law of Jehovah, or blot 
out one of his promises to those who do his will. In their 
fidelity to his law, God's servants should be as firm as the 
unchanging hills. 

The mountains that girded their lowly valleys were a 
constant witness to God's creative power, and a never-failing 
assurance of his protecting care. Those pilgrims learned 
to love the silent symbols of Jehovah's presence. They in- 
dulged no repining because of the hardships of their lot; 
they were never lonely amid the mountain solitudes. They 
thanked God that he had provided for them an asylum from 
the wrath and cruelty of men. They rejoiced in their freedom 
to worship before him. Often when pursued by their ene- 
mies, the strength of the hills proved a sure defense. From 
many a lofty cliff they chanted the praise of God, and the 
armies of Rome could not silence their songs of thanks- 
giving. 

Pure, simple, and fervent was the piety of these followers 
of Christ. The principles of truth they valued above houses 
and lands, friends, kindred, even life itself. These principles 
they earnestly sought to impress upon the hearts of the 
young. From earliest childhood the youth were instructed 



THE WALDENSES. 67 

in the Scriptures, and taught to sacredly regard the claims 
of the law of God. Copies of the Bible were rare; therefore 
its precious words were committed to memory. Many were 
able to repeat large portions of both the Old and the New 
Testament. Thoughts of God were associated alike with 
the sublime scenery of nature and with the humble bless- 
ings of daily life. Little children learned to look with grati- 
tude to God as the giver of every favor and every comfort. 

Parents, tender and affectionate as they were, loved their 
children too wisely to accustom them to self-indulgence. 
Before them was a life of trial and hardship, perhaps a 
martyr's death. They were educated from childhood to 
endure hardness, to submit to control, and yet to think and 
act for themselves. Very early they were taught to bear 
responsibilities, to be guarded in speech, and to understand 
the wisdom of silence. One indiscreet word let fall in the 
hearing of their enemies, might imperil not only the life of 
the speaker, but the lives of hundreds of his brethren ; for 
as wolves hunting their prey did the enemies of truth pursue 
those who dared to claim freedom of religious faith. 

The Waldenses had sacrificed their worldly prosperity 
for the truth's sake, and with persevering patience they toiled 
for their bread. Every spot of tillable land among the 
mountains was carefully improved ; the valleys and the less 
fertile hillsides were made to yield their increase. Economy 
and severe self-denial formed a part of the education which 
the children received as their only legacy. They were taught 
that God designs life to be a discipline, and that their wants 
could be supplied only by personal labor, by forethought, 
care, and faith. The process was laborious and wearisome, 
but it was wholesome, just what man needs in his fallen 
state, the school which God has provided for his training 
and development. 

While the youth were inured to toil and hardship, the 
culture of the intellect was not neglected. They were taught 
that all their powers belonged to God, and that all were to 
be improved and developed for his service. 



68 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



The Vaudois churches, in their purity and simplicity, 
resembled the church of apostolic times. Rejecting the 
supremacy of pope and prelate, the}^ held the Bible as 
the only supreme, infallible authority. Their pastors, un- 
like the lordly priests of Rome, followed the example of 
their Master, who " came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister." They fed the flock of God, leading them to the 
green pastures and living fountains of his holy Word. Far 
from the monuments of human pomp and pride, the people 
assembled, not in magnificent churches or grand cathedrals, 
but beneath the shadow of the mountains, in the Alpine 
valleys, or, in time of danger, in some rocky stronghold, to 
listen to the words of truth from the servants of Christ. The 
pastors not only preached the gospel, but they visited the 
sick, catechized the children, admonished the erring, and 
labored to settle disputes and promote harmony and broth- 
erly love. In times of peace they were sustained by the free- 
will offerings of the people; but, like Paul the tent-maker, 
each learned some trade or profession \>y which, if necessary, 
to provide for his own support. 

From their pastors the youth received instruction. While 
attention was given to branches of general learning, the 
Bible was made the chief study. The Gospels of Matthew 
and John they committed to memory, with many of the Epis- 
tles. They were employed also in copying the Scriptures. 
Some manuscripts contained the whole Bible, others only 
brief selections, to which some simple explanations of the 
text were added by those who were able to expound the 
Scriptures. Thus were brought forth the treasures of truth 
so long concealed by those who sought to exalt themselves 
above God. 

By patient, untiring labor, sometimes in the deep, dark 
caverns of the earth, by the light of torches, the sacred 
Scriptures were written out, verse by verse, chapter by 
chapter. Thus the work went on, the revealed will of God 
shining out like pure gold; how much brighter, clearer, 



THE WALDENSES. 69 



and more powerful because of the trials undergone for its 
sake, only those could realize who were engaged in the work. 
Angels from Heaven surrounded these faithful workers. 

Satan had urged on the papal priests and prelates to 
bury the Word of truth beneath the rubbish of error, heresy, 
and superstition; but in a most wonderful manner it was 
preserved uncorrupted through all the ages of darkness. 
It bore not the stamp of man, but the impress of God. 
Men have been unwearied in their efforts to obscure the 
plain, simple meaning of the Scriptures, and to make them 
contradict their own testimony ; but, like the ark upon the 
billowy deep, the Word of God outrides the storms that 
threaten it with destruction. As the mine has rich veins 
of gold and silver hidden beneath the surface, so that all 
must dig who would discover its precious stores, so the Holy 
Scriptures have treasures of truth that are revealed only to 
the earnest, humble, prayerful seeker. God designed the 
Bible to be a lesson-book to all mankind, in childhood, 
youth, and manhood, and to be studied through all time. 
He gave his Word to men as a revelation of himself. Every 
new truth discerned is a fresh disclosure of the character of 
its Author. The study of the Scriptures is the means di- 
vinely ordained to bring men into closer connection with 
their Creator, and to give them a clearer knowledge of his 
will. It is the medium of communication between God and 
man. 

While the Waldenses regarded the fear of the Lord as the 
beginning of wisdom, they were not blind to the importance 
of a contact with the world, a knowledge of men and of 
active life, in expanding the mind and quickening the per- 
ceptions. From their schools in the mountains some of the 
youth were sent to institutions of learning in the cities of 
France or Italy, where was a more extended field for study, 
thought, and observation than in their native Alps. The 
youth thus sent forth were exposed to temptation, they wit- 
nessed vice, they encountered Satan's wily agents, who urged 



70 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



upon them the most subtle heresies and the most danger- 
ous deceptions. But their education from childhood had 
been of a character to prepare them for all this. 

In the schools whither they went, they were not to make 
confidants of any. Their garments were so prepared as to 
conceal their greatest treasure, — the precious manuscripts 
of the Scriptures. These, the fruit of months and years of 
toil, they carried with them, and, whenever they could do 
so without exciting suspicion, they cautiously placed some 
portion in the way of those whose hearts seemed open to 
receive the truth. From their mother's knee the Walden- 
sian youth had been trained with this purpose in view ; they 
understood their work, and faithfully performed it. Con- 
verts to the true faith were won in these institutions of 
learning, and frequently its principles were found to be 
permeating the entire school; yet the papist leaders could 
not, by the closest inquiry, trace the so-called corrupting 
heresy to its source. 

The spirit of Christ is a missionary spirit. The very first 
impulse of the renewed heart is to bring others also to the 
Saviour. Such was the spirit of the Vaudois Christians. 
They felt that God required more of them than merely to 
preserve the truth in its purity in their own churches ; that 
a solemn responsibility rested upon them to let their light 
shine forth to those who were in darkness ; by the mighty 
power of God's Word they sought to break the bondage 
which Rome had imposed. The Vaudois ministers were 
trained as missionaries, every one who expected to enter the 
ministry being required first to gain an experience as an 
evangelist. Each was to serve three years in some mission 
field before taking charge of a church at home. This serv- 
ice, requiring at the outset self-denial and sacrifice, was a 
fitting introduction to the pastor's life in those times that 
tried men's souls. The youth who received ordination to 
the sacred office saw before them, not the prospect of earthly 
wealth and glory, but a life of toil and danger, and possibly 



mi: WALDftNSES. 71 



a martyr's fate. The missionaries went out two and two, us 

Jesus sent forth his disciples. With every young man was 
usually associated a man of age and experience, the youth 
1 icing under the guidance of his companion, who was held 
responsible for his training, and whose instruction he was 
required to heed. These co-laborers were not always to- 
gether, but often met for prayer and counsel, thus strength- 
ening each other in the faith. 

To have made known the object of their mission would 
have insured its defeat ; therefore they carefully concealed 
their real character. Every minister possessed a knowledge 
of some trade or profession, and the missionaries prosecuted 
their work under cover of a secular calling. Usually they 
chose that of merchant or peddler. They dealt in choice and 
costly articles, such as silks, laces, and jewels, which in 
those times could not be readily procured, and thus they 
found entrance where they would otherwise have been re- 
pulsed. All the while their hearts were uplifted to God for 
wisdom to present a treasure more precious than gold or 
gems. They secretly carried about wuth them copies of the 
Bible, in whole or in part, and whenever an opportunity 
was presented, they called the attention of their customers 
to these manuscripts. Often an interest to read God's Word 
was thus awakened, and some portion w T as gladly left with 
those who desired to receive it. 

The work of these missionaries began in the plains and 
valleys at the foot of their own mountains, but it extended 
far beyond these limits. With naked feet and in garments 
coarse and travel-stained as were those of their Master, they 
passed through great cities, and penetrated to distant lands. 
Everywhere they scattered the precious seed. Churches 
sprung up in their path, and the blood of martyrs wit- 
nessed for the truth. The day of God w T ill reveal a rich har- 
vest of souls garnered by the labors of these faithful men. 
Veiled and silent, the Word of God was making its way 
through Christendom, and meeting a glad reception in the 
homes and hearts of men. 



72 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

To the Waldenses the Scriptures were not merely a record 
of God's dealings with men in the past, and a revelation of 
the responsibilities and duties of the present, but an unfold- 
ing of the perils and glories of the future. They believed 
that the end of all things was not far distant; and as they 
studied the Bible with prayer and tears, they were the more 
deeply impressed with its precious utterances, and with their 
duty to make known to others its saving truths. They saw 
the plan of salvation clearly revealed in the sacred pages, 
and they found comfort, hope, and peace in believing in 
Jesus. As the light illuminated their understanding and 
made glad their hearts, they longed to shed its beams upon 
those who were in the darkness of papal error. 

They saw that under the guidance of pope and priests, 
multitudes were vainly endeavoring to obtain pardon by 
afflicting their bodies for the sin of their souls. Taught to 
trust to their good works to save them, they were ever look- 
ing to themselves, their minds dwelling upon their sinful 
condition, seeing themselves exposed to the wrath of God, 
afflicting soul and body, yet finding no relief. Thus con- 
scientious souls were bound by the doctrines of Rome. 
Thousands abandoned friends and kindred, and spent their 
lives in convent cells. By oft-repeated fasts and cruel scourg- 
ings, by midnight vigils, by prostration for weary hours 
upon the cold, damp stones of their dreary abode, by long 
pilgrimages, by humiliating penance and fearful torture, 
thousands vainly sought to obtain peace of conscience. Op- 
pressed with a sense of sin, and haunted with the fear of 
God's avenging wrath, many suffered on, until exhausted 
nature gave way, and without one ray of light or hope, they 
sank into the tomb. 

The Waldenses longed to break to these starving souls 
the bread of life, to open to them the messages of peace in 
the promises of God, and to point them to Christ as their 
only hope of salvation. The doctrine that good works can 
atone for the transgression of God's law, they held to be 



THE WALDENSES. 73 



based upon falsehood. Reliance upon human merit inter- 
cepts the view of Christ's infinite love. Jesus died as a sac- 
rifice for man because the fallen race can do nothing to 
recommend themselves to God. The merits of a crucified 
and risen Saviour are the foundation of the Christian's faith. 
The dependence of the soul upon Christ is as real, and its 
connection with him must be as close, as that of a limb to 
the body, or of a branch to the vine. 

The teachings of popes and priests had led men to look 
upon the character of God, and even of Christ, as stern, 
gloomy, and forbidding. The Saviour was represented as 
so far devoid of all sympathy with man in his fallen state 
that the mediation of priests and saints must be invoked. 
Those whose minds had been enlightened by the Word of 
God longed to point these souls to Jesus as their compas- 
sionate, loving Saviour, standing with outstretched arms 
inviting all to come to him with their burden of sin, their 
care and weariness. They longed to clear away the ob- 
structions which Satan had piled up that men might not see 
the promises, and come directly to God, confessing their 
sins, and obtaining pardon and peace. 

Eagerly did the Vaudois missionary unfold to the in- 
quiring mind the precious truths of the gospel. Cautiously 
he produced the carefully written portions of the Holy 
Scriptures. It was his greatest joy to give hope to the con- 
scientious, sin-stricken soul, who could see only a God of 
vengeance, waiting to execute justice. With quivering lip 
and tearful eye did he, often on bended knees, open to his 
brethren the precious promises that reveal the sinner's only 
hope. Thus the light of truth penetrated many a darkened 
mind, rolling back the cloud of gloom, until the Sun of 
Righteousness shone into the heart with healing in his 
beams. It was often the case that some portion of Scripture 
was read again and again, the hearer desiring it to be re- 
peated, as if he w^ould assure himself that he had heard 
aright. Especially was the repetition of these words eagerly 



74 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

desired: "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
from all sin." l "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wil- 
derness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that who- 
soever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal 
life." 2 

Many were undeceived in regard to the claims of Rome. 
They saw how vain is the mediation of men or angels in 
behalf of the sinner. As the true light dawned upon their 
minds, they exclaimed with rejoicing, "Christ is my priest; 
his blood is my sacrifice; his altar is my confessional." 
They cast themselves wholly upon the merits of Jesus, re- 
peating the words, " Without faith it is impossible to please 
him." 3 "There is none other name under heaven given 
among men, whereby we must be saved." i 

The assurance of a Saviour's love seemed too much for 
some of these poor tempest-tossed souls to realize. So great 
was the relief which it brought, such a flood of light was 
shed upon them, that they seemed transported to Heaven. 
Their hand was laid confidingly in the hand of Christ: their 
feet were planted upon the Rock of Ages. All fear of death 
was banished. They could now covet the prison and the 
fagot if they might thereby honor the- name of their Re- 
deemer. 

In secret places the Word of God was thus brought forth 
and read, sometimes to a single soul, sometimes to a little 
company who were longing for light and truth. Often the 
entire night was spent in this manner. So great would be 
the wonder and admiration of the listeners that the mes- 
senger of mercy was not infrequently compelled to cease his 
reading until the understanding could grasp the tidings of 
salvation. Often would words like these be uttered: "Will 
God indeed accept my offering? Will he smile upon me? 
Will he pardon me?" The answer was read, " Come unto 
me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you 
rest." 5 

1 1 John 1:7. 2 John 3 : 14, 15. 3 Heb. 11:6. 

4 Acts 4 : 12. 5 Matt. 11 : £8. 



77/ A 1 WALDENSH& 75 



Faith grasped the promise, and the glad response was 
heard, "No more long pilgrimages to make; no more pain- 
ful journeys to holy shrines. I may come to Jesus just as I 
am, sinful and unholy, and he will not spurn the penitential 
prayer. 'Thy sins be forgiven thee.' Mine, even mine, may 
be forgiven ! " 

A tide of sacred joy would fill the heart, and the name 
of Jesus would be magnified by praise and thanksgiving. 
Those happy souls returned to their homes to diffuse light, 
to repeat to others, as well as they could, their new experi- 
ence ; that they had found the true and living Way. There 
was a strange and solemn power in the words of Scripture 
that spoke directly to the hearts of those who were longing 
for the truth. It was the voice of God, and it carried con- 
viction to those who heard. 

The messenger of truth went on his way ; but his appear- 
ance of humility, his sincerity, his earnestness and deep 
fervor, were subjects of frequent remark. In many instances 
his hearers had not asked him whence he came, or whither 
he went. They had been so overwhelmed, at first with sur- 
prise, and afterward with gratitude and joy, that they had 
not thought to question him. When they had urged him 
to accompany them to their homes, he had replied that he 
must visit the lost sheep of the flock. Could he have been 
an angel from Heaven? they queried. 

In many cases the messenger of truth was seen no more. 
He had made his way to other lands, he was wearing out 
his life in some unknown dungeon, or perhaps his bones 
were whitening on the spot where he had witnessed for the 
truth. But the words he had left behind could not be de- 
stroyed. They were doing their work in the hearts of men ; 
the blessed results will be fully known only in the Judgment. 

The Waldensian missionaries were invading the kingdom 
of Satan, and the powers of darkness aroused to greater vigi- 
lance. Every effort to advance the truth was watched by 
the prince of evil, and he excited the fears of his agents. 



76 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

The papal leaders saw a portent of danger to their cause 
from the labors of these humble itinerants. If the light of 
truth were allowed to shine unobstructed, it would sweep 
away the heavy clouds of error that enveloped the people; it 
would direct the minds of men to God alone, and would 
eventually destroy the supremacy of Rome. 

The very existence of this people, holding the faith of the 
ancient church, was a constant testimony to Rome's apostasy, 
and therefore excited the most bitter hatred and persecution. 
Their refusal to surrender the Scriptures was also an offense 
that Rome could not tolerate. She determined to blot them 
from the earth. Now began the most terrible crusades 
against God's people in their mountain homes. Inquisitors 
were put upon their track, and the scene of innocent Abel 
falling before the murderous Cain was often repeated. 

Again and again were their fertile lands laid waste, their 
dwellings and chapels swept away, so that where once were 
nourishing fields and the homes of an innocent, industrious 
people, there remained only a desert. As the ravenous beast 
is rendered more furious by the taste of blood, so the rage of 
the papists was kindled to greater intensity by the sufferings 
of their victims. Many of these witnesses for a pure faith 
were pursued across the mountains, and hunted down in the 
valleys where they were hidden, shut in by mighty forests, 
and pinnacles of rock. 

No charge could be brought against the moral character 
of this proscribed class. Even their enemies declared them 
to be a peaceable, quiet, pious people. Their grand offense 
was that they would not worship God according to the will 
of the pope. For this crime, every humiliation, insult, and 
torture that men or devils could invent was heaped upon 
them. 

When Rome at one time determined to exterminate the 
hated sect, a bull was issued by the pope 1 condemning them 
as heretics, and delivering them to slaughter. They were 

innocent VIII., a. d. 1487. 



THE WALD/JXSES. 77 



not accused as idlers, or dishonest, or disorderly; but it was 
declared that they had an appearance of piety and sanctity 
1 1 lut seduced ''the sheep of the true fold." Therefore the 
pope ordered "that the malicious and abominable sect of 
malignants," if they refuse to abjure, "be crushed like ven- 
omous snakes." Did this haughty potentate expect to meet 
those words again? Did he know that they were registered 
in the books of Heaven, to confront him at the Judgment? 
" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren," said Jesus, "ye have done it unto me." 1 

This bull called upon all members of the church to join 
the crusade against the heretics. As an incentive to engage 
in this cruel work, it "absolved from all ecclesiastical pains 
and penalties, general and particular; it released all who 
joined the crusade from any oaths they might have taken; 
it legitimatized their title to any property which they might 
have illegally acquired, and promised remission of all their 
sins to such as should kill any heretic. It annulled all con- 
tracts made in favor of the Yaudois, ordered their domestics 
to abandon them, forbade all persons to give them any aid 
whatever, and empowered all persons to take possession of 
their property." This document clearly reveals the master- 
spirit behind the scenes. It is the roar of the dragon, and 
not the voice of Christ, that is heard therein. 

The papal leaders would not conform their characters to 
the great standard of God's law, but erected a standard to 
suit themselves, and determined to compel all to conform to 
this because Rome willed it. The most horrible tragedies 
were enacted. Corrupt and blasphemous priests and popes 
were doing the work which Satan appointed them. Mercy 
had no place in their natures. The same spirit that crucified 
Christ, and that slew the apostles, the same that moved the 
blood-thirsty Nero against the faithful in his day, was at 
work to rid the earth of those who were beloved of God. 

The persecutions visited for many centuries upon this 

1 Matt. 25 : 40. 



78 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



God-fearing people were endured by them with a patience 
and constancy that honored their Redeemer. Notwithstand- 
ing the crusades against them, and the inhuman butchery 
to which they were subjected, they continued to send out 
their missionaries to scatter the precious truth. They were 
hunted to the death; yet their blood watered the seed sown, 
and it failed not of yielding fruit. Thus the Waldenses 
witnessed for God, centuries before the birth of Luther. 
Scattered over many lands, they planted the seeds of the 
Reformation that began in the time of WyclifFe, grew broad 
and deep in the days of Luther, and is to be carried forward 
to the close of time by those who also are willing to suffer 
all things for "the Word of God, and for the testimony of 
Jesus Christ." l 

1 Rev. 1 : 9. 




^ ^ 



EARLY REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



CHAPTER V. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

So bitter had been the war waged upon the Bible, that 
at times there were very few copies in existence ; but God 
had not suffered his Word to be wholly destroyed. Its 
truths were not to be forever hidden. He could as easily 
unchain the words of life as he could open prison doors and 
unbolt iron gates to set his servants free. In the different 
countries of Europe, men were moved by the Spirit of God 
to search for the truth as for hid treasures. Providentially 
guided to the Holy Scriptures, they studied the sacred pages 
with intense interest. They were willing to accept the light, 
at any cost to themselves. Though they did not see all 
things clearly, they were enabled to perceive many long- 
buried truths. As Heaven-sent messengers they went forth, 
rending asunder the chains of error and superstition, and 
calling upon those who had been so long enslaved to arise 
and assert their liberty. 

Except among the Waldenses, the Word of God had for 
ages been locked up in languages known only to the learned ; 
but the time had come for the Scriptures to be translated, 
and given to the people of different lands in their native 
tongue. The world had passed its midnight The hours of 
darkness were wearing away, and in many lands appeared 
tokens of the coming dawn. 

In the fourteenth century arose in England the " morning- 
star of the Reformation." John Wycliffe was the herald of 
reform, not for England alone, but for all Christendom. The 
great protest against Rome which it was permitted him to 
utter, was never to be silenced. That protest opened the 

(79) 



80 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

struggle which was to result in the emancipation of individ- 
uals, of churches, and of nations. 

Wycliffe received a liberal education, and with him the 
fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. He was 
noted at college for his fervent piety as well as for his re- 
markable talents and sound scholarship. In his thirst for 
knowledge he sought to become acquainted with every 
branch of learning. He was educated in the scholastic 
philosophy, in the canons of the church, and in the civil law, 
especially that of his own country. In his after-labors the 
value of this early training was apparent. . A thorough 
acquaintance with the speculative philosophy of his time 
enabled him to expose its errors; and by his study of na- 
tional and ecclesiastical law he was prepared to engage in 
the great struggle for civil and religious liberty. While he 
could wield the weapons drawn from the Word of God, he 
had acquired the intellectual discipline of the schools, and 
he understood the tactics of the schoolmen. The power of 
his genius and the extent and thoroughness of his knowl- 
edge commanded the respect of both friends and foes. His 
adherents saw with satisfaction that their champion stood 
foremost among the leading minds of the nation ; and his 
enemies were prevented from casting contemp.t upon the 
cause of reform by exposing the ignorance or weakness of 
its supporter. 

While Wycliffe was still at college, he entered upon the 
study of the Scriptures. In those early times, when the 
Bible existed only in the ancient languages, scholars were 
enabled to find their way to the fountain of truth, which was 
closed to the uneducated classes. Thus already the way had 
been prepared for Wycliffe's future work as a reformer. Men 
of learning had studied the Word of God, and had found 
the great truth of his free grace there revealed. In their 
teachings they had spread a knowledge of this truth, and 
had led others to turn to the Living Oracles. 

When Wycliffe's attention was directed to the Scriptures, 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 81 

he entered upon their investigation with the same thorough- 
ness which had enabled him to master the learning of the 
schools. Heretofore he had felt a great want, which neither 
his scholastic studies nor the teaching of the church could 
satisfy. In the Word of God he found that which he had 
before sought in vain. Here he saw the plan of salvation 
revealed, and Christ set forth as the only advocate for man. 
He gave himself to the service of Christ, and determined to 
proclaim the truths he had discovered. 

Like after-reformers, Wycliffe did not, at the opening of 
his work, foresee whither it would lead him. He did not 
set himself deliberately in opposition to Rome. But devo- 
tion to truth could not but bring him in conflict with false- 
hood. The more clearly he discerned the errors of the 
papacy, the more earnestly he presented the teaching of the 
Bible. He saw T that Rome had forsaken the Word of God 
for human tradition ; he fearlessly accused the priesthood of 
having banished the Scriptures, and demanded that the 
Bible be restored to the people, and that its authority be 
again established in the church. He was an able and ear- 
nest teacher, and an eloquent preacher, and his daily life 
was a demonstration of the truths he preached. His knowl- 
edge of the Scriptures, the force of his reasoning, the purity 
of his life, and his unbending courage and integrity, won for 
him general esteem and confidence. Many of the people 
had become dissatisfied with their former faith, as they 
saw the iniquity that prevailed in the Roman Church, and 
they hailed with unconcealed joy the truths brought to view 
by Wycliffe; but the papist leaders were filled with rage 
when they perceived that this reformer was gaining an in- 
fluence greater than their own. 

Wycliffe was a keen detector of error, and he struck fear- 
lessly against many of the abuses sanctioned by the authority 
of Rome. While acting as chaplain for the king, he took a 
bold stand against the payment of tribute claimed by the 
pope from the English monarch, and showed that the papal 



82 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

assumption of authority over secular rulers was contrary to 
both reason and revelation. The demands of the pope had 
excited great indignation, and Wycliffe's teachings exerted 
an influence upon the leading minds of the nation. The 
king and the nobles united in denying the pontiff's claim to 
temporal authority, and in refusing the payment of the 
tribute. Thus an effectual blow was struck against the 
papal supremacy in England. 

Another evil against which the reformer waged long and 
resolute battle, was the institution of the orders of mendicant 
friars. These friars swarmed in England, casting a blight 
upon the greatness and prosperity of the nation. Industry, 
education, morals, all felt the withering influence. The 
monks' life of idleness and beggary was not only a heavy 
drain upon the resources of the people, but it brought useful 
labor into contempt. The youth were demoralized and cor- 
rupted. By the influence of the friars many were induced 
to enter a cloister and devote themselves to a monastic life, 
and this not only without the consent of their parents, but 
even without their knowledge, and contrary to their com- 
mands. One of the early fathers of the Romish Church, 
urging the claims of monasticism above . the obligations of 
filial love and duty, had declared: "Though thy father 
should lie before thy door, weeping and lamenting, and thy 
mother should show thee the body that bare thee and the 
breasts that nursed thee, see that thou trample them under 
foot, and go onward straightway to Christ." "By this mon- 
strous inhumanity," as Luther afterward styled it, "savor- 
ing more of the wolf and the tyrant than of the Christian 
and the man," were the hearts of children steeled against 
their parents. Thus did the papal leaders, like the Phari- 
sees of old, make the commandment of God of none effect by 
their tradition. Thus homes were made desolate, and par- 
ents were deprived of the society of their sons and daughters. 

Even the students in the universities were deceived by 
the false representations of the monks, and induced to join 



JOHN WYCLJFFE. 83 



their orders. Many afterward repented this step, seeing that 
they had blighted their own lives, and had brought sorrow 
upon their parents; but once fast in the snare, it was impos- 
sible for them to obtain their freedom. Many parents, fear- 
ing the influence of the monks, refused to send their sons to 
the universities. There was a marked falling off in the 
number of students in attendance at the great centers of 
learning. The schools languished, and ignorance prevailed. 

The pope had bestowed on these monks the power to hear 
confessions and to grant pardon. This became a source of 
great evil. Bent on enhancing their gains, the friars were 
so ready to grant absolution that criminals of all descriptions 
resorted to them, and as a result, the worst vices rapidly 
increased. The sick and the poor were left to suffer, while 
the gifts that should have relieved their wants went to the 
monks, who with threats demanded the alms of the people, 
denouncing the impiety of those who should withhold gifts 
from their orders. Notwithstanding their profession of pov- 
erty, the wealth of the friars was constantly increasing, and 
their magnificent edifices and luxurious tables made more 
apparent the growing poverty of the nation. And while 
spending their time in luxury and pleasure, they sent out in 
their stead ignorant men, who could only recount marvelous 
tales, legends, and jests to amuse the people, and make them 
still more completely the dupes of the monks. Yet the 
friars continued to maintain their hold on the superstitious 
multitudes, and led them to believe that all religious duty 
was comprised in acknowledging the supremacy of the pope, 
adoring the saints, and making gifts to the monks, and 
that this was sufficient to secure them a place in Heaven. 

Men of learning and piety had labored in vain to bring 
about a reform in these monastic orders; but WyclifFe, 
with clearer insight, struck at the root of the evil, declaring 
that the system itself was false, and that it should be abol- 
ished. Discussion and inquiry were awakening. As the 
monks traversed the country, vending the pope's pardons, 



84 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, 



many were led to doubt the possibility of purchasing for- 
giveness with money, and they questioned whether they 
should not seek pardon from God rather than from the pon- 
tiff of Rome. Not a few were alarmed at the rapacity of the 
friars, whose greed seemed never to be satisfied. " The monks 
and priests of Rome," said they, "are eating us away like a 
cancer. God must deliver us, or the people will perish." 
To cover their avarice, these begging monks claimed that 
they were following the Saviour's example, declaring that 
Jesus and his disciples had been supported by the charities 
of the people. This claim resulted in injury to their cause, 
for it led many to the Bible to learn the truth for them- 
selves, — a result which of all others was least desired by 
Rome. The minds of men were directed to the Source of 
truth, which it was her object to conceal. 

Wycliffe began to write and publish tracts against the 
friars, not, however, seeking so much to enter into dispute 
with them as to call the minds of the people to the teachings 
of the Bible and its Author. He declared that the power 
of pardon or of excommunication is possessed by the pope in 
no greater degree than by common priests, and that no man 
can be truly excommunicated unless he ' has first brought 
upon himself the condemnation of God. In no more effect- 
ual way could he have undertaken the overthrow of that 
mammoth fabric of spiritual and temporal dominion which 
the pope had erected, and in which the souls and bodies 
of millions were held captive. 

Again Wycliffe was called to defend the rights of the En- 
glish crown against the encroachments of Rome; and being 
appointed a royal ambassador, he spent two years in the 
Netherlands, in conference with the commissioners of the 
pope. Here he was brought into communication with eccle- 
siastics from France, Italy, and Spain, and he had an oppor- 
tunity to look behind the scenes, and gain a knowledge of 
many things which would have remained hidden from him 
in England. He learned much that was to give point to 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 85 



his after-labors. In these representatives from the papal 
court he read the true character and aims of the hierarchy. 
Pie returned to England to repeat his former teachings more 
openly and with greater zeal, declaring that covetousness, 
pride, and deception were the gods of Rome. 

In one of his tracts he said, speaking of the pope and 
his collectors: " They draw out of our land poor men's live- 
lihood, and many thousand marks by the year, of the king's 
money, for sacraments and spiritual things, that is cursed 
heresy of simony, and maketh all Christendom assert and 
maintain his heresy. And certes though our realm had a huge 
hill of gold, and never other man took thereof but only 
this proud, worldly priest's collector, by process of time this 
hill must be spended ; for he taketh ever money out of our 
land, and sendeth naught again but God's curse for his 
simony." 

Soon after his return to England, Wycliffe received from 
the king the appointment to the rectory of Lutterworth. 
This was an assurance that the monarch at least had not 
been displeased by his plain speaking. WyclifFe's influence 
was felt in shaping the action of the court, as well as in 
moulding the belief of the nation. 

The papal thunders were soon hurled against him. Three 
bulls were dispatched to England, — to the university, to the 
king, and to the prelates, — all commanding immediate and 
decisive measures to silence the teacher of heresy. Before 
the arrival of the bulls, however, the bishops, in their zeal, 
had summoned Wycliffe before them for trial. But two of 
the most powerful princes in the kingdom accompanied 
him to the tribunal ; and the people, surrounding the build- 
ing and rushing in, so intimidated the judges that the pro- 
ceedings were for the time suspended, and he was allowed 
to go his way in peace. A little later, Edward III., whom 
in his old age the prelates were seeking to influence against 
the reformer, died, and Wycliffe's former protector became 
regent of the kingdom. 



86 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

But the arrival of the papal bulls laid upon all England a 
peremptory command for the arrest and imprisonment of the 
heretic. These measures pointed directly to the stake. It 
appeared certain that Wycliffe must soon fall a prey to the 
vengeance of Rome. But He who declared to one of old, 
"Fear not; I am thy shield," 1 again stretched out his hand to 
protect his servant. Death came, not to the reformer, but 
to the pontiff who had decreed his destruction. Gregory XI. 
died, and the ecclesiastics who had assembled for Wycliffe's 
trial, dispersed. 

God's providence still further overruled events to give 
opportunity for the growth of the Reformation. The death 
of Gregory was followed by the election of two rival popes. 
Two conflicting powers, each professedly infallible, now 
claimed obedience. Each called upon the faithful to assist 
him in making war upon the other, enforcing his demands 
by terrible anathemas against his adversaries, and promises 
of rewards in Heaven to his supporters. This occurrence 
greatly weakened the power of the papacy. The rival 
factions had all they could do to attack each other, and 
Wycliffe for a time had rest. Anathemas and recrimina- 
tions were flying from pope to pope, and torrents of blood were 
poured out to support their conflicting claims. Crimes and 
scandals flooded the church. Meanwhile the reformer, in 
the quiet retirement of his parish of Lutterworth, was labor- 
ing diligently to point men from the contending popes to 
Jesus, the Prince of peace. 

The schism, with all the strife and corruption which it 
caused, prepared the way for the Reformation, by enabling 
the people to see what the papacy really was. In a tract 
which he published, " On the Schism of the Popes," Wyc- 
liffe called upon the people to consider whether these two 
priests were not speaking the truth in condemning each 
other as the antichrist. " The fiend," said he, " no longer 
reigns in one but in two priests, that men may the more 
easily, in Christ's name, overcome them both." 

iGen. 15:1. 



JOIIX WYCLIFFE. 



Wycliffe, like his Master, preached the gospel to the poor. 
Not content with spreading the light in their humble homes 
in his own parish of Lutterworth, he determined that it 
should be carried to every part of England. To accomplish 
this he organized a body of preachers, simple, devout men, 
who loved the truth and desired nothing so much as to 
extend it. These men went everywhere, teaching in the 
market-places, in the streets of the great cities, and in the 
country lanes. They sought out the aged, the sick, and the 
poor, and opened to them the glad tidings of the grace of 
God. 

As a professor of theology at Oxford, Wycliffe preached the 
Word of God in the halls of the university. So faithfully did 
he present the truth to the students under his instruction, 
that he received the title of " The Gospel Doctor." But the 
greatest work of his life was to be the translation of the 
Scriptures into the English language. In a work on " The 
Truth and Meaning of Scripture," he expressed his inten- 
tion to translate the Bible, so that every man in England 
might read, in the language in which he was born, the won- 
derful works of God. 

But suddenly his labors were stopped. Though not yet 
sixty years of age, unceasing toil, study, and the assaults of 
his enemies, had told upon his strength, and made him pre- 
maturely old. He was attacked by a dangerous illness. The 
tidings brought great joy to the friars. Now they thought 
he would bitterly repent the evil he had done the church, 
and they hurried to his chamber to listen to his confession. 
Representatives from the four religious orders, with four civil 
officers, gathered about the supposed dying man. " You have 
death on your lips," they said ; " be touched by your faults, 
and retract in our presence all you have said to our injury." 
The reformer listened in silence; then he bade his attendant 
raise him in his bed, and gazing steadily upon them as they 
stood waiting for his recantation, he said, in the firm, strong 
voice which had so often caused them to tremble, " I shall 



88 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



not die, but live, and declare the evil deeds of the friars." 
Astonished and abashed, the monks hurried from the room. 

Wycliffe's words were fulfilled. He lived to place in the 
hands of his countrymen the most powerful of all weapons 
against Rome ; to give them the Bible, the Heaven-appointed 
agent to liberate, enlighten, and evangelize the people. There 
were many and great obstacles to surmount in the accom- 
plishment of this work. Wycliffe was weighed clown with 
infirmities, he knew that only a few years for labor remained 
for him, he saw the opposition which he must meet ; but, 
encouraged by the promises of God's Word, he went for- 
ward nothing daunted. In the full vigor of his intellectual 
powers, rich in experience, he had been preserved and pre- 
pared by God's special providence for this, the greatest of 
his labors. While all Christendom was filled with tumult, 
the reformer, in his rectory at Lutterworth, unheeding the 
storm that raged without, applied himself to his chosen task. 

At last the work was completed, — the first English trans- 
lation of the Bible ever made. The Word of God was opened 
to England. The reformer feared not now the prison or 
the stake. He had j^laced in the hands of the English peo- 
ple a light which should neA r er be extinguished. In giving 
the Bible to his countrymen, he had done more to break the 
fetters of ignorance and vice, more to liberate and elevate 
his country, than was ever achieved by the most brilliant 
victories on fields of battle. 

The art of printing being still unknown, it was only by 
slow and wearisome labor that copies of the Bible could be 
multiplied. So great was the interest to obtain the book, 
that many willingly engaged in the work of transcribing it, 
but it was with difficulty that the copyists could supply the 
demand. Some of the more- wealthy purchasers desired the 
whole Bible. Others bought only a portion. In many cases, 
several families united to purchase a copy. Thus Wycliffe's 
Bible soon found its way to the homes of the people. 

The appeal to men's reason aroused them from their pas- 



JOIIX WYCLIFFE. 89 



sive submission to papal dogmas. Wycliffenow taught the 
distinctive doctrines of Protestantism, — salvation through 
faith in Christ, and the sole infallibility of the Scriptures. 
The preachers whom he had sent out circulated the Bible, 
together with the reformer's writings, and with such success 
that the new faith was accepted by nearly one-half of the 
people of England. 

The appearance of the Scriptures brought dismay to the 
authorities of the church. They had now to meet an agency 
more powerful than WyclifTe, — an agency against which 
their weapons would avail little. There was at this time no 
law in England prohibiting the Bible, for it had never before 
been published in the language of the people. Such laws 
were afterward enacted and rigorously enforced. Mean- 
while, notwithstanding the efforts of the priests, there was for 
a season opportunity for the circulation of the Word of God. 

Again the papist leaders plotted to silence the reformer's 
voice. Before three tribunals he was successively summoned 
for trial, but without avail. First a synod of bishops de- 
clared his writings heretical, and, winning the young king, 
Richard II., to their side, they obtained a royal decree con- 
signing to prison all who should hold the condemned 
doctrines. 

AVycliffe appealed from the synod to Parliament; he fear- 
lessly arraigned the hierarchy before the national council, 
and demanded a reform of the enormous abuses sanctioned 
by the church. With convincing power he portrayed the 
usurpations and corruptions of the papal see. His enemies 
were brought to confusion. The friends and supporters of 
AVycliffe had been forced to yield, and it had been confi- 
dently expected that the reformer himself, in his old age, 
alone and friendless, would bow to the combined authority 
of the crown and the mitre. But instead of this the papists 
saw themselves defeated. Parliament, roused by the stirring 
appeals of AVycliffe, repealed the persecuting edict, and the 
reformer was again at liberty. 



90 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

A third time he was brought to trial, and now before the 
highest ecclesiastical tribunal in the kingdom. Here no 
favor would be shown to heresy. Here at last Rome would 
triumph, and the reformer's work would be stopped. So 
thought the papists. If they could but accomplish their 
purpose, Wycliffe would be forced to abjure his doctrines, or 
would leave the court only for the flames. 

But Wycliffe did not retract ; he would not dissemble. He 
fearlessly maintained his teachings, and repelled the accu- 
sations of his persecutors. Losing sight of himself, of his 
position, of the occasion, he summoned his hearers before 
the divine tribunal, and weighed their sophistries and 
deceptions in the balances of eternal truth. The power of 
the Holy Spirit was felt in the council room. A spell from 
God was upon the hearers. They seemed to have no power 
to leave the place. As arrows from the Lord's quiver, the 
reformer's words pierced their hearts. The charge of her- 
esy, which they had brought against him, he with convincing 
\power threw back upon themselves. Why, he demanded, 
did they dare to spread their errors? — For the sake of gain, 
to make merchandise of the grace of God. 

" With whom, think you," he finally said, " are you con- 
tending? With an old man on the- brink of the grave? — No ! 
with truth, — truth which is stronger than you, and will 
overcome you." So saying, he withdrew from the assembly, 
and not one of his adversaries attempted to prevent him. 

Wycliffe's work was almost done, the banner of truth which 
he had so long borne was soon to fall from his hand; but 
once more he was to bear witness for the gospel. The truth 
was to be proclaimed from the very stronghold of the king- 
dom of error. Wycliffe was summoned for trial before the 
papal tribunal at Rome, which had so often shed the blood 
of the saints. He was not blind to the danger that threat- 
ened him, yet he would have obeyed the summons, had not 
a shock of palsy made it impossible for him to perform the 
journey. But though his voice was not to be heard at Rome, 
he could speak by letter, and this he determined to do. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 91 



From his rectory the reformer wrote to the pope a letter, 
which, while respectful in tone and Christian in spirit, was a 
keen rebuke to the pomp and pride of the papal see. " Ver- 
ily I do rejoice," he said, "to open and declare unto every 
man the faith which I do hold, and specially unto the 
bishop of Rome ; the which forasmuch as I do suppose to 
be sound and true, he will most willingly confirm my said 
faith, or if it be erroneous, amend the same. First, I believe 
that the gospel of Christ is the whole body of God's 
law. . . . I do give and hold the bishop of Rome, foras- 
much as he be the vicar of Christ here on earth, to be bound 
most of all men unto that law of the gospel. For the great- 
ness among Christ's disciples did not consist in worldly dig- 
nity or honors, but in the near and exact following of Christ 
in his life and manners. . . . Christ for the time of his 
pilgrimage here was a most poor man, abjecting and casting 
off all worldly rule and honor. 

" Xo faithful man ought to follow either the pope himself, 
or any of the holy men, but in such points as he hath fol- 
lowed the Lord Jesus Christ. For Peter and the sons of Zeb- 
edee, by desiring worldly honor, contrary to the following of 
Christ's steps, did offend, and therefore in those errors they 
are not to be followed. 

" The pope ought to leave unto the secular power all tem- 
poral dominion and rule, and thereunto effectually move and 
exhort his whole clergy ; for so did Christ, and especially by 
his apostles. 

"If I have erred in any of these points, I will most hum- 
bly submit myself unto correction even by death, if necessity 
so require. If I could labor according to my will and desire 
in mine own person, I would surely present myself before the 
bishop of Rome. But the Lord hath otherwise visited me to 
the contrary, and hath taught me to obey God rather than 
men." 

In closing he said : " Let us pray unto our God, that he 
will so stir up our pope, Urban the Sixth, as he began, that 



92 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

he with his clergy may follow the Lord Jesus Christ in life 
and manners, and that they may teach the people effect- 
ually, and that they likewise may faithfully follow them in 
the same." 

Thus Wycliffe presented to the pope and his cardinals the 
meekness and humility of Christ, exhibiting not only to 
themselves but to all Christendom the contrast between them 
and the Master whose representatives they professed to be. 

Wycliffe fully expected that his life would be the price of 
his fidelity. The king, the pope, and the bishops were united 
to accomplish his ruin, and it seemed certain that a few 
months at most would bring him to the stake. But his 
courage was unshaken. " Why do you talk of seeking the 
crown of martyrdom afar?" he said. "Preach the gospel of 
Christ to haughty prelates, and martyrdom will not fail you. 
What! I should live and be silent? ... Never! Let 
the blow fall. I await its coming." 

But God's providence still shielded his servant. The man 
who for a whole lifetime had stood boldly in defense of the 
truth, in daily peril of his life, was not to fall a victim to 
the hatred of its foes. Wycliffe had never sought to shield 
himself, but the Lord had been his protector; and now, 
when his enemies felt sure of their prey, God's hand removed 
him beyond their reach. In his church at Lutterworth, as 
he was about to dispense the communion, he fell stricken 
with palsy, and in a short time yielded up his life. 

God had appointed to Wycliffe his work. He had put 
the word of truth in his mouth, and he set a guard about 
him that this word might come to the people. His life was 
protected, and his labors prolonged, until a foundation was 
laid for the great work of the Reformation. 

Wycliffe came from the obscurity of the Dark Ages. 
There were none who went before him from whose work he 
could shape his system of reform. Raised up like John the 
Baptist to accomplish a special mission, he was the herald of 
a new era. Yet in the system of truth which he presented 



joiin wycliffe: 93 



there was a unity and completeness which reformers who 
followed him did not exceed, and which some did not reach, 
even a hundred years later. So broad and deep was laid the 
foundation, so firm and true was the framework, that it 
needed not to be reconstructed by those who came after him. 

The great movement which Wycliffe inaugurated, which 
was to liberate the conscience and the intellect, and set free 
the nations so long bound to the triumphal car of Rome, 
had its spring in the Bible. Here was the source of that 
stream of blessing, which, like the water of life, has flowed 
down the ages since the fourteenth century. Wycliffe ac- 
cepted the Holy Scriptures with implicit faith as the inspired 
revelation of God's will, a sufficient rule of faith and practice. 
He had been educated to regard the Church of Rome as the 
divine, infallible authority, and to accept with unquestioning 
reverence the established teachings and customs of a thou- 
sand years ; but he turned away from all these to listen to 
God's holy Word. This was the authority which he urged 
the people to acknowledge. Instead of the church speaking 
through the pope, he declared the only true authority to be 
the voice of God speaking through his Word. And he 
taught not only that the Bible is a perfect revelation of 
God's will, but that the Holy Spirit is its only interpreter, 
and that every man is, by the study of its teachings, to learn 
his duty for himself. Thus he turned the minds of men 
from the pope and the Church of Rome to the Word of God. 

Wycliffe was one of the greatest of the reformers. In 
breadth of intellect, in clearness of thought, in firmness to 
maintain the truth, and boldness to defend it, he was equaled 
by few who came after him. Purity of life, unwearying 
diligence in study and in labor, incorruptible integrity, and 
Christ-like love and faithfulness in his ministry, character- 
ized the first of the reformers. And this notwithstanding 
the intellectual darkness and moral corruption of the age 
from which he emerged. 

The character of Wycliffe is a testimony to the educating, 



94 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



transforming power of the Holy Scriptures. It was the 
Bible that made him what he was. The effort to grasp the 
great truths of revelation imparts freshness and vigor to all 
the faculties. It expands the mind, sharpens the percep- 
tions, and ripens the judgment. The study of the Bible will 
ennoble every thought, feeling, and aspiration as no other 
study can. It gives stability of purpose, patience, courage, 
and fortitude ; it refines the character, and sanctifies the soul. 
An earnest, reverent study of the Scriptures — bringing the 
mind of the student in direct contact with the infinite mind 
■ — would give to the world men of stronger and more active 
intellect, as well as of nobler principle, than has ever resulted 
from the ablest training that human philosophy affords. 
"The entrance of Thy words," says the psalmist, "giveth 
light ; it giveth understanding." x 

The doctrines which had been taught by Wycliffe con- 
tinued for a time to spread; his followers, known as Wyc- 
liffites and Lollards, not only traversed England, but scat- 
tered to other lands, carrying the knowledge of the gospel. 
Now that their leader was removed, the preachers labored 
with even greater zeal than before, and multitudes flocked to 
listen to their teachings. Some of the nobility, and even the 
wife of the king, were among the converts. In many places, 
there was a marked reform in the manners of the people, 
and the idolatrous symbols of Romanism were removed 
from the churches. But soon the pitiless storm of persecu- 
tion burst upon those who had dared to accept the Bible as 
their guide. The English monarchs, eager to strengthen 
their power by securing the support of Rome, did not hesi- 
tate to sacrifice the reformers. For the first time in the his- 
tory of England, the stake was decreed against the disciples 
of the gospel. Martyrdom succeeded martyrdom. The 
advocates of truth, proscribed and tortured, could only pour 
their cries into the ear of the Lord of Sabaoth. Hunted as 
foes of the church and traitors to the realm, they continued 

! Ps. 119:130. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 95 



to preach in secret places, finding shelter as best they could 
in the humble homes of the poor, and often hiding away 
even in dens and caves. 

Notwithstanding the rage of persecution, a calm, devout, 
earnest, patient protest against the prevailing corruption of 
religious faith continued for centuries to be uttered. The 
Christians of that early time had only a partial knowledge 
of the truth, but they had learned to love and obey God's 
Word, and they patiently suffered for its sake. Like the 
disciples in apostolic days, many sacrificed their worldly 
possessions for the cause of Christ. Those who were per- 
mitted to dwell in their homes, gladly sheltered their ban- 
ished brethren, and when they too were driven forth, they 
cheerfully accepted the lot of the outcast. Thousands, it is 
true, terrified by the fury of their persecutors, purchased 
their freedom at the sacrifice of their faith, and went out of 
their prisons, clothed in penitents' robes, to publish their 
recantation. But the number was not small — and among 
them were men of noble birth as well as the humble and 
lowly — who bore fearless testimony to the truth in dungeon 
cells, in "Lollard towers," and in the midst of torture and 
flame, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to know "the 
fellowship of His sufferings." 

The papists had failed to work their will with Wycliffe 
during his life, and their hatred could not be satisfied while 
his body rested quietly in the grave. By the decree of the 
Council of Constance, more than forty years after his death 
his bones were exhumed and publicly burned, and the ashes 
were thrown into a neighboring brook. " The brook," says 
an old writer, " did convey his ashes into Avon, Avon into 
Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, and they into the main 
ocean; and thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his 
doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over." Little 
did his enemies realize the significance of their malicious act. 

It was through the writings of Wycliffe that John Huss, 



96 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



of Bohemia, was led to renounce many of the errors of Ro- 
manism, and to enter upon the work of reform. Thus in 
these two countries, so widely separated, the seed of truth was 
sown. From Bohemia the work extended to other lands. 
The minds of men were directed to the long-forgotten Word 
of God. A divine hand was preparing the way for the Great 
Reformation. 



CHAPTER VI. 



HUSS AND JEROME. 

The gospel had been planted in Bohemia as early as the 
ninth century. The Bible was translated, and pnblic wor- 
ship was conducted in the language of the people. But as 
the power of the pope increased, so the Word of God was 
obscured. Gregory VII., who had taken it upon him "to 
pull down the j)ride of kings," was no less intent upon enslav- 
ing the people, and accordingly a bull was issued forbidding 
public worship to be conducted in the Bohemian tongue. 
The pope declared that " God was pleased that his worship 
should be celebrated in an unknown tongue, and that a 
neglect of this rule had given rise to many evils and here- 
sies." Thus Rome decreed that the light of God's Word 
should be extinguished, and the people should be shut up 
in darkness. But Heaven had provided other agencies for 
the preservation of the church. Many of the Waldenses 
and Albigenses, driven by persecution from their homes in 
France and Italy, came to Bohemia. Though they dared 
not teach openly, they labored zealously in secret. Thus the 
true faith was preserved from century to century. 

Before the days of Huss, there were men in Bohemia who 
rose up to condemn openly the corruption in the church 
and the profligacy of the people. Their labors excited wide- 
spread interest. The fears of the hierarchy were roused, and 
persecution was opened against the disciples of the gospel. 
Driven to worship in the forests and the mountains, they 
were hunted by soldiers, and many were put to death. After 
a time it was decreed that all who departed from the Rom- 

(97) 



98 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

ish worship should be burned. But while the Christians 
yielded up their lives, they looked forward to the triumph 
of their cause. One of those who taught that " salvation 
was only to be found by faith in the crucified Saviour," 
declared when dying, " The rage of the enemies of truth now 
prevails against us, but it will not be forever; there shall 
arise one from among the common people, without sword 
or authority, and against him they shall not be able to pre- 
vail." Luther's time was yet far distant; but already one 
was rising, whose testimony against Rome would stir the 
nations. 

John Huss was of humble birth, and was early left an 
orphan by the death of his father. His pious mother, regard- 
ing education and the fear of God as the most valuable of 
possessions, sought to secure this heritage for her son. Huss 
studied at the provincial school, and then repaired to the uni- 
versity at Prague, receiving admission as a charity scholar. 
He was accompanied on the journey to Prague by his mother; 
widowed and poor, she had no gift of worldly wealth to be- 
stow upon her son, but as they drew near to the great city, 
she kneeled down beside the fatherless youth, and invoked 
for him the blessing of their Father in "Heaven. Little did 
that mother realize how her prayer was to be answered. 

At the university, Huss soon distinguished himself by his 
untiring application and rapid progress, while his blameless 
life and gentle, winning deportment gained him universal 
esteem. He was a sincere adherent of the Romish Church, 
and an earnest seeker for the spiritual blessings which it. 
professes to bestow. On the occasion of a jubilee, he went 
to confession, paid the last few coins in his scanty store, and 
joined in the processions, that he might share in the absolu- 
tion promised. After completing his college course, he 
entered the priesthood, and, rapidly attaining to eminence, 
he soon became attached to the court of the king. He was 
also made professor and afterward rector of the university 
where he had received his education. In a few years the 



WUSS AND .JEROME. 99 

humble charity scholar had become the pride of his country, 

and his name was renowned throughout Europe. 

But it was in another field that Huss began the work of 
reform. Several years after taking priest's orders he was 
appointed preacher of the chapel of Bethlehem. The 
founder of this chapel had advocated, as a matter of great 
importance, the preaching of the Scriptures in the language 
of the people. Notwithstanding Rome's opposition to this 
practice, it had not been wholly discontinued in Bohemia. 
But there was great ignorance of the Bible, and the worst 
vices prevailed among the people of all ranks. These evils 
Huss unsparingly denounced, appealing to the Word of 
God to enforce the principles of truth and purity which he 
. inculcated. 

flv A citizen of Prague, Jerome, who afterward became so 
closely associated with Huss, had, on returning from En- 
gland, brought with him the writings of WyclifTe. The queen 
of England, who had been a convert to Wycliffe's teachings, 
was a Bohemian princess, and through her influence also the 
reformer's works were widely circulated in her native coun- 
try. These works Huss read with interest ; he believed their 
author to be a sincere Christian, and was inclined to regard 
with favor the reforms which he advocated. Already, 
though he knew it not, Huss had entered upon a path 
which was to lead him far away from Rome. 

About this time there arrived in Prague two strangers 
from England, men of learning, who had received the light, 
and had come to spread it in this distant land. Beginning 
with an open attack on the pope's supremacy, they were soon 
silenced by the authorities ; but being unwilling to relinquish 
their purpose, they had recourse to other measures. Being 
artists as well as preachers, they proceeded to exercise their 
skill. In a place open to the public they drew two pictures. 
One represented the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, " meek, 
and sitting upon an ass," 1 and followed by his disciples in 
travel-worn garments and with naked feet, The other pict- 

iMatt. 21:5. 



100 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



ure portrayed a pontifical procession,— the pope arrayed in 
his rich robes and triple crown, mounted upon a horse mag- 
nificently adorned, preceded by trumpeters, and followed by 
cardinals and prelates in dazzling array. 

Here was a sermon which arrested the attention of all 
classes. Crowds came to gaze upon the drawings. None 
could fail to read the moral, and many were deeply im- 
pressed by the contrast between the meekness and humility 
of Christ the Master, and the pride and arrogance of the 
pope, his professed servant. There was great commotion in 
Prague, and the strangers after a time found it necessary, 
for their own safety, to depart. But the lesson they had 
taught was not forgotten. The pictures made a deep im- 
pression on the mind of Huss, and led him to a closer study 
of the Bible and of Wycliffe's writings. Though he was not 
prepared, even yet, to accept all the reforms advocated by 
Wycliffe, he saw more clearly the true character of the 
papacy, and with greater zeal denounced the pride, the 
ambition, and the corruption of the hierarchy. 

From Bohemia the light extended to Germany; for dis- 
turbances in the University of Prague caused the withdrawal 
of hundreds of German students. Ma;ny of them had re- 
ceived from Huss their first knowledge of the Bible, and on 
their return they spread the gospel in their fatherland. 

Tidings of the work at Prague were carried to Rome, and 
Huss was soon summoned to appear before the pope. To 
obey would be to expose himself to certain death. The king 
and queen of Bohemia, the university, members of the no- 
bility, and officers of the government, united in an appeal to 
the pontiff that Huss be permitted to remain at Prague, and 
to answer at Rome by deputy. Instead of granting this 
request, the pope proceeded to the trial and condemnation 
of Huss, and then declared the city of Prague to be under 
interdict. 

In that age this sentence, whenever pronounced, created 
widespread alarm. The ceremonies by which it was accom- 



I/f'SS AND JEROME. 101 



panied wore well adapted to strike terror to a people who 
looked upon the pope as the representative of God himself, 
holding the keys of Heaven and hell, and possessing power 
to invoke temporal as well as spiritual judgments. It was 
helieved that the gates of Heaven were closed against the 
region smitten with interdict; that until it should please 
the pope to remove the ban, the dead were shut out from 
the abodes of bliss. In token of this terrible calamity, all 
the services of religion were suspended. The churches Avere 
closed. Marriages were solemnized in the church-yard. 
The dead, denied burial in consecrated ground, w T ere in- 
terred, without the rites of sepulture, in the ditches or the 
fields. Thus by measures w T hich appealed to the imagina- 
tion, Rome essayed to control the consciences of men. 

The city of Prague was filled with tumult. A large class 
denounced Huss as the cause of all their calamities, and 
demanded that he be given up to the vengeance of Rome. 
To quiet the storm, the reformer withdrew for a time to his 
native village. Writing to the friends whom he had left at 
Prague, he said : " If I have withdrawn from the midst of 
you, it is to follow the precept and example of Jesus Christ, 
in order not to give room to the ill-minded to draw on them- 
selves eternal condemnation, and in order not to be to the 
pious a cause of affliction and persecution. I have retired 
also through an apprehension that impious priests might 
continue for a longer time to prohibit the preaching of the 
Word of God amongst you; but I have not quitted you to 
deny the divine truth, for which, with God's assistance, I am 
willing to die." Huss did not cease his labors, but traveled 
through the surrounding country, preaching to eager crowds. 
Thus the measures to which the pope resorted to suppress 
the gospel, were causing it to be the more widely extended. 
"We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." 1 

" The mind of Huss, at this stage of his career, would seem 
to have been the scene of a painful conflict, Although the 
church was seeking to overwhelm him by her thunder-bolts, 

ft 12 Cor. 13:8. 



102 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



he had not renounced her authority. The Roman Church 
was still to him the spouse of Christ, and the pope was the 
representative and vicar of God. What Huss was warring 
against was the abuse of authority, not the principle itself. 
This brought on a terrible conflict between the convictions 
of his understanding and the claims of his conscience. If 
the authority was just and infallible, as he believed it to be, 
how came it that he felt compelled to disobey it? To obey, 
he saw, was to sin ; but why should obedience to an infalli- 
ble church lead to such an issue? This was the problem he 
could not solve ; this was the doubt that tortured him from 
hour to hour. The nearest approximation to a solution, 
which he was able to make, was that it had happened again, 
as once before in the days of the Saviour, that the priests of 
the church had become wicked persons, and were using their 
lawful authority for unlawful ends. This led him to adopt 
for his own guidance, and to preach to others for theirs, the 
maxim that the precepts of Scripture, conveyed through 
the understanding, are to rule the conscience; in other 
words, that God speaking in the Bible, and not the church 
speaking through the priesthood, is the one infallible guide." 

When after a time the excitement in Prague subsided, 
Huss returned to his chapel of Bethlehem, to continue with 
greater zeal and courage the preaching of the Word of God. 
His enemies were active and powerful, but the queen and 
many of the nobles were his friends, and the people in great 
numbers sided with him. Comparing his pure and elevat- 
ing teachings and holy life with the degrading dogmas 
which the Romanists preached, and the avarice and de- 
bauchery which they practiced, many regarded it an honor 
to be on his side. 

Hitherto Huss had stood alone in his labors; but now 
Jerome, who while in England had accepted the teachings 
of WyclifFe, joined in the work of reform. The two were 
hereafter united in their lives, and in death they were not 
to be divided. 



rrrss and jerque. io3 



Brilliancy of genius, eloquence and learning — gifts that 
win popular favor — were possessed in a pre-eminent degree 
by Jerome; but in those qualities which constitute real 
-i length of character, Huss was the greater. His calm judg- 
ment served as a restraint upon the impulsive spirit of Je- 
rome, who, with true humility, perceived his worth, and 
yielded to his counsels. Under their united labors the reform 
was more rapidly extended. 

God permitted great light to shine upon the minds of 
these chosen men, revealing to them many of the errors of 
Rome; but they did not receive all the light that was to be 
given to the world. Through these, his servants, God was 
leading the people out of the darkness of Romanism; but 
there were many and great obstacles for them to meet, and 
he led them on, step by step, as they could bear it. They 
were not prepared to receive all the light at once. Like the 
full glory of the noontide sun to those who have long dwelt 
in darkness, it w T ould, if presented, have caused them to turn 
away. Therefore he revealed it to the leaders, little by little, 
as it could be received by the people. From century to 
century "other faithful workers were to follow, to lead the 
people on still farther in the path of reform. 

The schism in the church still continued. Three popes 
were now contending for the supremacy, and their strife 
filled Christendom with crime and tumult. Not content 
with hurling anathemas, they resorted to temporal weapons. 
Each cast about him to purchase arms and to obtain soldiers. 
Of course money must be had; and to procure this, all the 
gifts, offices, and blessings of the church were offered for 
sale. The priests also, imitating their superiors, resorted to 
simony and war to humble their rivals, and strengthen their 
own power. "With daily increasing boldness, Huss thundered 
against the abominations which were tolerated in the name of 
religion; and the people openly accused the Romish leaders 
as the cause of the miseries that overwhelmed Christendom. 

Again the city of Prague seemed on the verge of a 



104 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



bloody conflict. As in former ages, God's servant was accused 
as "he that troubleth Israel." 1 The city, was again placed 
under interdict, and Huss withdrew to his native village. 
The testimony so faithfully borne from his loved chapel of 
Bethlehem was ended. He was to speak from a wider stage, 
to all Christendom, before laying down his life as a witness 
for the truth. 

To cure the evils that were distracting Europe, a general 
council was summoned to meet at Constance. The council 
was called, at the desire of the emperor Sigismund, by one of 
the three rival popes, John XXIII. The demand for a coun- 
cil had been far from welcome to Pope John, whose character 
and policy could ill bear investigation, even by prelates as 
lax in morals as were the churchmen of those times. He 
dared not, however, oppose the will of Sigismund. 

The chief objects to be accomplished by the council were 
to heal the schism in the church, and to root out heresy. 
Hence the two anti-popes were summoned to appear before 
it, as well as the leading propagator of the new opinions, 
John Huss. The former, having regard to their own safety, 
did not attend in person, but were represented by their dele- 
gates. Pope John, while ostensibly the convoker of the 
council, came to it with many misgivings, suspecting the 
emperor's secret purpose to depose him, and fearing to 
be brought to account for the vices which had disgraced 
the tiara, as well as for the crimes which had secured it. 
Yet he made his entry into the city of Constance with great 
pomp, attended by ecclesiastics of the highest rank, and fol- 
lowed by a train of courtiers. All the clergy and dignita- 
ries of the city, with an immense crowd of citizens, went out 
to welcome him. Above his head was a golden canopy, 
borne by four of the chief magistrates. The host was car- 
ried before him, and the rich dresses of the cardinals and 
nobles made an imposing display. 

Meanwhile another traveler was approaching Constance. 
Huss was conscious of the dangers which threatened him. 

1 1 Kings 18 : 17. 



HITSS AND JEROME. 105 

He parted from his friends as if he were never to meet 
them again, and went on his journey feeling that it was 
leading him to the stake. Notwithstanding he had ob- 
tained a safe-conduct from the king of Bohemia, and re- 
ceived one also from the emperor Sigismund while on his 
journey, he made all his arrangements in view of the prob- 
ability of his death. 

In a letter addressed to his friends at Prague he said : 
" I am departing, my brethren, with a safe-conduct from the 
king, to meet my numerous and mortal enemies. ... I 
confide altogether in the all-powerful God, in my Saviour; 
I trust that he will listen to your ardent prayers, that he 
will infuse his prudence and his wisdom into my mouth, in 
order that I may resist them ; and that he will accord me 
his Holy Spirit to fortify me in his truth, so that I may face 
with courage, temptations, prison, and, if necessary, a cruel 
death. Jesus Christ suffered for his well-beloved ; and there- 
fore ought we to be astonished that he has left us his exam- 
ple, in order that we may ourselves endure with patience all 
things for our own salvation? He is God , and we are his 
creatures; he is the Lord, and we are his servants ; he is 
Master _of the world, and we are contemptible mortals; — yet 
he suffered ! Why, then, should ye not suffer, also, particu- 
larly when suffering is for us a purification? Therefore, 
beloved, if my death ought to contribute to his glory, pray 
that it may come quickly, and that he may enable me to 
support all my calamities with constancy. But if it be bet- 
ter that I return amongst you, let us pray to God that I 
may return without stain, — that is, that I may not suppress 
one tittle of the truth of the gospel, in order to leave my 
brethren an excellent example to follow. Probably, there- 
fore, you will never more behold my face at Prague; but 
should the will of the all-powerful God deign to restore me 
to you, let us then advance with a firmer heart in the knowl- 
edge and the love of his law." 

In another letter, to a priest who had become a disciple of 



106 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



the gospel, Huss spoke with deep humility of his own errors, 
accusing himself of having felt pleasure in wearing rich 
apparel, and of having wasted hours in trifling occupations. 
He then added these touching admonitions: " May the glory 
of God and the salvation of souls occupy thy mind, and not 
the possession of benefices and estates. Beware of adorning 
thy house more than thy soul ; and above all, give thy care 
to the spiritual edifice. Be pious and humble with the poor, 
and consume not thy substance in feasting. Shouldst thou 
not amend thy life and refrain from superfluities, I fear that 
thou wilt be severely chastened, as I am myself. . . . 
Thou knowest my doctrine, for thou hast received my in- 
structions from thy childhood ; it is therefore useless for me 
to write to thee any further. But I conjure thee, by the 
mercy of our Lord, not to imitate me in any of the vanities 
into which thou hast seen me fall." On the cover of the 
letter he added : " I conjure thee, my friend, not to break 
this seal, until thou shalt have acquired the certitude that I 
am dead." 

On his journey, Huss everywhere beheld indications of 
the spread of his doctrines, and the favor with which his 
cause was regarded. The people thronged to meet him, and 
in some towns the magistrates attended him through their 
streets. 

Upon arriving at Constance, Huss was granted full liberty. 
To the emperor's safe-conduct was added a personal assur- 
ance of protection by the pope. But in violation of these 
solemn and repeated declarations, the reformer was in a 
short time arrested, by order of the pope and cardinals, and 
thrust into a loathsome dungeon. 

The pope, however, profiting little by his perfidy, was soon 
after committed to the same prison. He had been proved 
before the council to be guilty of the basest crimes, besides 
murder, simony, and adultery, " sins not fit to be named." 
So the council itself declared ; and he was finally deprived 
of the tiara, and thrown into prison. The anti-popes also 
were deposed, and a new pontiff was chosen. 



I1UJSJS AND JEROME. 107 

Though the pope himself had been guilty of greater 
crimes than Huss had ever charged upon the priests, and 
lor which lie had demanded a reformation, yet the same 
council which degraded the pontiff proceeded to crush the 
reformer. The imprisonment of Huss excited great indig- 
nation in Bohemia. Powerful noblemen addressed to the 
council earnest protests against this outrage. The emperor, 
who was loth to permit the violation of a safe-conduct, 
opposed the proceedings against him. But the enemies of 
the reformer were malignant and determined. They ap- 
pealed to the emperor's prejudices, to his fears, to his zeal 
for the church. They brought forward arguments of great 
length to prove that he was "perfectly at liberty not to keep faith 
with a heretic" and that the council, being above the emperor, 
"could free him from his word." Thus they prevailed. 

Enfeebled by illness and imprisonment — for the damp, 
foul air of his dungeon had brought on a fever which nearly 
ended his life — Huss w r as at last brought before the council. 
Loaded with chains he stood in the presence of the emperor, 
whose honor and good faith had been pledged to protect him. 
During his long trial he firmly maintained the truth, and 
in the presence of the assembled dignitaries of Church and 
State, he uttered a solemn and faithful protest against the 
corruptions of the hierarchy. ' When required to choose 
whether he would recant his doctrines or suffer death he 
accepted the martyr's fate. 

The grace of God sustained him. During the weeks of 
suffering that passed before his final sentence, Heaven's 
peace filled his soul. "I write this letter," he said to a 
friend, " in prison, and with my fettered hand, expecting my 
sentence of death to-morrow. . . . When, with the as- 
sistance of Jesus Christ, w T e shall meet again in the delicious 
peace of the future life, you will learn how merciful God has 
shown himself toward me — how effectually he has supported 
me in the midst of my temptations and trials." 

In the gloom of his dungeon he foresaw the triumph of 



108 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

the true faith. Returning in his dreams to the chapel at 
Prague where he had preached the gospel, he saw the pope 
and his bishops effacing the pictures of Christ which he had 
painted on its walls. He was deeply troubled at the sight; 
but the next day his grief was changed to joy, as he beheld 
many artists come to replace the figures in greater numbers 
and brighter colors. Their work ended, the painters ex- 
claimed to the crowd gathered eagerly about them, " Now 
let the popes and bishops come! They shall never efface 
them more ! " Said the reformer, as he related his dream, 
" I am certain that the image of Christ will never be effaced. 
They have wished to destroy it, but it will be imprinted 
anew on the hearts of men by much better preachers than 
myself." 

For the last time, Huss was brought before the council. 
It was a vast and brilliant assembly, — the emperor, the 
princes of the empire, the royal deputies, the cardinals, bish- 
ops, and priests, and an immense crowd who had come as 
spectators of the events of the day. From all parts of Chris- 
tendom had been gathered the witnesses of this first great 
sacrifice in the long struggle by which liberty of conscience 
was to be secured. 

Being called upon for his final decision, Huss declared 
his refusal to abjure, and fixing his penetrating glance upon 
the monarch whose plighted word had been so shamelessly 
violated, he declared that of his own free will he had ap- 
peared before the council, " under the public faith and pro- 
tection of the emperor here present." A deep flush crim- 
soned the face of Sigismund as the eyes of all in the assembly 
turned upon him. 

Sentence having been pronounced, the ceremony of degra- 
dation began. The bishops clothed their prisoner in the 
sacerdotal habit, and as he took the priestly robe, he said, 
" Our Lord Jesus Christ was covered with a white robe by 
way of insult, when Herod had him conducted before Pilate." 
Being again exhorted to retract, he replied, turning toward 



RtTSS AND JEROME. 109 

the people, "With what face, then, should I behold the 
heavens? How should I look on those multitudes of men 
to whom I have preached the pure gospel? No; I esteem 
their salvation more than this poor body, now appointed 
unto death." The vestments were removed one by one, each 
bishop pronouncing a curse as he performed his part of the 
ceremony. Finally a crown or mitre, on which were painted 
frightful figures of demons, and bearing the inscription, 
"The Arch-Heretic," was placed upon his head. "Most joy- 
fully," he said, "will I wear this crown of shame for thy 
sake, Lord Jesus, who for me didst wear a crown of thorns." 

When he was thus arrayed, the prelates devoted his soul 
to Satan. Huss, looking heavenward, exclaimed, " I do com- 
mend my spirit into thy hands, Lord Jesus, for thou hast 
redeemed me." 

He was now delivered up to the secular authorities, and 
led aw T ay to the place of execution. An immense proces- 
sion followed, hundreds of men at arms, priests and bishops 
in their costly robes, and the inhabitants of Constance. 
When he had been fastened to the stake, and all was ready 
for the fire to be lighted, the martyr was once more exhorted 
to save himself by renouncing his errors. " What errors," 
said Huss, "shall I renounce? I know myself guilty of 
none. I call God to witness that all that I have written or 
preached has been with the view of rescuing souls from sin 
and perdition; and, therefore, most joyfully will I confirm 
with my blood that truth which I have written and 
preached." 

When the flames kindled about him, he began to sing, 
" Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me," and so con- 
tinued till his voice was silenced forever. 

Even his enemies were struck with his heroic bearing. 
A zealous papist, describing the martyrdom of Huss, and of 
Jerome, who died soon after, said : " Both bore themselves 
with constant mind when their last hour approached. They 
prepared for the fire as if they were going to a marriage 



110 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



feast. They uttered no cry of pain. When the flames ruse, 
they began to sing hymns; and scarce could the vehemence 
of the fire stop their singing." 

When the body of Huss had been wholly consumed, his 
ashes, with the soil upon which they rested, were gathered up 
and cast into the Rhine, and thus borne onward to the ocean. 
His persecutors vainly imagined that they had rooted out 
the truths he preached. Little did they dream that the ashes 
that day borne away to the sea were to be as seed scattered in 
all the countries of the earth ; that in lands yet unknown it 
would yield abundant fruit in witnesses for the truth. The 
voice which had spoken in the council hall of Constance had 
wakened echoes that would be heard through all coming 
ages. Huss was no more, but the truths for which he died 
could never perish. His example of faith and constancy 
would encourage multitudes to stand firm for the truth, in 
the face of torture and death. His execution had exhibited 
to the whole world the perfidious cruelty of Rome. The 
enemies of truth, though they knew it not, had been further- 
ing the cause which they vainly sought to destroy. 

Yet another stake was to be set up at Constance. The 
blood of another witness must testify for the truth. Jerome, 
upon bidding farewell to Huss on his departure for the 
council, had exhorted him to courage and firmness, declaring 
that if he should fall into any peril, he himself would fly to 
his assistance. Upon hearing of the reformer's imprison- 
ment, the faithful disciple immediately prepared to fulfill his 
promise. Without a safe-conduct he set out, with a single 
companion, for Constance. On arriving there he was con- 
vinced that he had only exposed himself to peril, without 
the possibility of doing anything for the deliverance of Huss. 
He fled from the city, but was arrested on the homeward 
journey, and brought back loaded with fetters, and under 
the custody of a band of soldiers. At his first appearance 
berore the council, his attempts to reply to the accusations 
brought against him were met with shouts, " To the flames 



1/rss AND JEROME. Ill 



with him! to the flames! " He was thrown into a dungeon, 

chained in a position which caused him great suffering, and 
fed on bread and water. 

After some months the cruelties of his imprisonment 
brought upon Jerome an illness that threatened his life, and 
his enemies, fearing that he might escape them, treated him 
with less severity, though he remained in prison for one 
year. The death of Huss had not resulted as the papists had 
hoped. The violation of his safe-conduct had roused a storm 
of indignation, and as the safer course the council deter- 
mined, instead of burning Jerome, to force him, if possible, 
to retract. He was brought before the assembly, and offered 
the alternative to recant or to die at the stake. Death at the 
beginning of his imprisonment would have been a mercy, 
in conrparison with the terrible sufferings which he had 
undergone; but now, weakened by illness, by the rigors of 
his prison-house, and the torture of anxiety and suspense, 
separated from his friends, and disheartened by the death 
of Huss, Jerome's fortitude gave way, and he consented to 
submit to the council. He pledged himself to adhere to 
the Catholic faith, and accepted the action of the council in 
condemning the doctrines of AVycliffe and Huss, excepting, 
however, the "holy truths" which they had taught. 

By this expedient, Jerome endeavored to silence the voice 
of conscience and escape his doom. But in the solitude of 
his dungeon he saw more clearly what he had clone. He 
thought of the courage and fidelity of Huss, and in contrast 
pondered upon his own denial of the truth. He thought of 
the divine Master whom he had pledged himself to serve, 
and who for his sake endured the death of the cross. Before 
his retraction he had found comfort, amid all his sufferings, 
in the assurance of God's favor; but now remorse and doubt 
tortured his soul. He knew that still other retractions must 
be made before he could be at peace with Rome. The path 
upon which he was entering could end only in complete 
apostasy. His resolution was taken : to escape a brief period 
of suffering he would not deny his Lord. 



112 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Soon lie was again brought before the council. His sub- 
mission had not satisfied his judges. Their thirst for blood, 
whetted by the death of Huss, clamored for fresh victims. 
Only by an unreserved surrender of the truth could Jerome 
preserve his life. But he had determined to avow his faith, 
and follow his brother martyr to the flames. 

He renounced his former recantation, and, as a dying 
man, solemnly required an opportunity to make his defense. 
Fearing the effect of his words, the prelates insisted that he 
should merely affirm or deny the truth of the charges 
brought against him. Jerome protested against such cruelty 
and injustice. " You have held me shut up three hundred 
and forty days in a frightful prison," he said, " in the midst 
of filth, noisomeness, stench, and the utmost want of every- 
thing. You then bring me out before you, and lending an 
ear to my mortal enemies, you refuse to hear me. If you be 
really wise men, and the lights of the world, take care not 
to sin against justice. As for me, I am only a feeble mortal; 
my life is but of little importance; and when I exhort you 
not to deliver an unjust sentence, I speak. less for myself 
than for you." 

His request was finally granted. In the presence of his 
judges, Jerome kneeled down and prayed that the Divine 
Spirit might control his thoughts and words, that he might 
speak nothing contrary to the truth or unworthy of his 
Master. To him that day was fulfilled the promise of God 
to the first disciples : " Ye shall be brought before governors 
and kings for my sake ; . . . but when they deliver you 
up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it 
shall be given }^ou in that same hour what ye shall speak; 
for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father 
which speaketh in you." 1 The words of Jerome excited 
astonishment and admiration, even in his enemies. For a 
whole year he had been immured in a dungeon, unable to 
read or even to see, in great physical suffering and mental 
anxiety. Yet his arguments were presented with as much 

1 Matt. 10:18-20. 



I/f'SS AXD JEROME. 113 



clearness and power as if he had had undisturbed opportu- 
nity for study. He pointed his hearers to the long line of 
holy men who had been condemned by unjust judges. In 
almost every generation have been those who, while seeking 
to elevate the people of their time, have been reproached 
and east out. but who in later times have been shown to be 
deserving of honor. Christ himself was condemned as a 
malefactor at an unrighteous tribunal. 

At his retraction, Jerome had assented to the justice of the 
sentence condemning Iiuss; he now declared his repentance, 
and bore witness to the innocence and holiness of the mar- 
tyr. "I knew John Huss from his childhood/' he said. 
"He was a most excellent man, just and holy; he was con- 
demned, notwithstanding his innocence. ... I also — I 
am ready to die. I will not recoil before the torments that 
are prepared for me by my enemies and false witnesses, who 
will one day have to render an account of their impostures 
before the great God, whom nothing can deceive.'' 

In self-reproach for his own denial of the truth. Jerome 
continued: " Of all the sins that I have committed since my 
youth, none weigh so heavily upon my mind, and cause me 
such poignant remorse, as that which I committed in this 
fatal place, when I approved of the iniquitous sentence 
rendered against Wycliffe, and the holy martyr, John Huss. 
my master. Yes, I confess it from my heart ; and declare 
with horror that I disgracefully quailed, when, through a 
dread of death, I condemned their doctrines. I therefore 
supplicate Almighty God to deign to pardon me my sins. 
and this one in particular, the most heinous of all." Point- 
ing to his judges, he said firmly: " You condemned Wycliffe 
and Huss, not for having shaken the doctrine of the church, 
but simply because they branded with reprobation the scan- 
dals of the clergy. — their pomp, their pride, and all the vices 
of the prelates and priests. The things that they have af- 
firmed, and which are irrefutable, I also think and declare 
like them." 



114 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



His words were interrupted. The prelates, trembling 
with rage, cried out, "What need have we of further proof?" 
"Away with the most obstinate of heretics ! " 

Unmoved by the tempest, Jerome exclaimed: "What! do 
you suppose that I fear to die? You have held nie a whole 
year in a frightful dungeon, more horrible than death itself. 
You have treated me more cruelly than a Turk, Jew, 01 
pagan, and my flesh has literally rotted off my bones alive; 
and yet I make no complaint, for lamentation ill becomes a 
man of heart and spirit ; but I cannot but express my aston- 
ishment at such great barbarity toward a Christian." 

Again the storm of rage burst out; and Jerome was hur- 
ried away to prison. Yet there were some in the assembly 
upon whom his words had made a deep impression, and 
who desired to save his life. He was visited by dignitaries 
of the church, and urged to submit himself to the council. 
The most brilliant prospects were presented before him as 
the reward of renouncing his opposition to Rome. But like 
his Master, when offered the glory of the world, Jerome re- 
mained steadfast. 

" Prove to me from the Holy Writings that I am in error," 
he said, "and I will abjure it." 

"The Holy Writings!" exclaimed one of his tempters, "is 
everything to be judged by them? Who can understand 
them until the church has interpreted them ? " 

"Are the traditions of men more worthy of faith than the 
gospel of our Saviour?" replied Jerome. "Paul did not 
exhort those to whom he wrote to listen to the traditions of 
men, but said, 'Search the Scriptures.'" 

" Heretic," was the response, " I repent having pleaded so 
long with you. I see that you are urged on by the devil." 

Erelong sentence of condemnation was passed upon him. 
He was led out to the same spot upon which Huss had 
yielded up his life. He went singing on his way, his coun- 
tenance lighted up with joy and jDeace. His gaze was fixed 
upon Christ, and to him death had lost its terrors. When 



JIITSS AND JEROME. 115 



the executioner, about to kindle the pile, stepped behind 
him, the martyr exclaimed, "Come forward boldly; apply 
the lire before my face. Had I been afraid, I should not be 
here." 

His last words, uttered as the flames rose about him, were 
a prayer. " Lord, Almighty Father," he cried, " have pity 
on me, and pardon me my sins, for thou knowest that I have 
always loved thy truth." His voice ceased, but his lips 
continued to move in prayer. 

When the fire had done its w^ork, the ashes of the mar- 
tyr, with the earth upon which they rested, were gathered 
up, and, like those of Huss, were thrown into the Rhine. 
So perished God's faithful light-bearers. But the light of 
the truths which they proclaimed,— the light of their heroic 
example, — could not be extinguished. As well might men 
attempt to turn back the sun in its course as to prevent the 
dawning of that day which was even then breaking upon 
the world. 

The execution of Huss had kindled a flame of indigna- 
tion and horror in Bohemia. It was felt by the whole nation 
that he had fallen a prey to the malice of the priests and 
the treachery of the emperor. He was declared to have been 
a faithful teacher of the truth, and the council that decreed 
his death was charged with the guilt of murder. His doc- 
trines now attracted greater attention than ever before. By 
the papal edicts the writings of Wycliffe had been con- 
demned to the flames. But those that had escaped destruc- 
tion were now brought out from their hiding-places, and 
studied in connection with the Bible, or such parts of it as 
the people could obtain, and many were thus led to accept 
the reformed faith. 

The murderers of Huss did not stand quietly by and wit- 
ness the triumph of his cause. The pope and the emperor 
united to crush out the movement, and the armies of Sigis- 
mund were hurled upon Bohemia. 

But a deliverer was raised up. Ziska, who soon after the 

10 



116 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



opening of the war became totally blind, yet who was one of 
the ablest generals of his age, was the leader of the Bohe- 
mians. Trusting in the help of God and the righteousness 
of their cause, that people withstood the mightiest armies 
that could be brought against them. Again and again the 
emperor, raising fresh armies, invaded Bohemia, to be igno- 
miniously repulsed. The Hussites were raised above the 
fear of death, and nothing could stand against them. A 
few years after the opening of the war, the brave Ziska 
died; but his place was filled by Procopius, who was an 
equally brave and skillful general, and in some respects a 
more able leader. 

The enemies of the Bohemians, knowing that the blind 
warrior was dead, deemed the opportunity favorable for 
recovering all that they had lost. The pope now proclaimed 
a crusade against the Hussites, and again an immense force 
was precipitated upon Bohemia, but only to suffer terrible 
defeat. Another crusade was proclaimed. In all the papal 
countries of Europe, men, money, and munitions of war 
were raised. Multitudes nocked to the papal standard, 
assured that at last an end would be made of the Hussite 
heretics. Confident of victory, the vast' force entered Bohe- 
mia. The people rallied to repel them. The two armies 
approached each other, until only a river lay between them. 
The allies were greatly superior in numbers, yet instead of 
advancing boldly to attack the Hussites, they stood as if 
spell-bound, silently gazing upon them. Then suddenly a 
mysterious terror fell upon the host. Without striking a 
blow that mighty force broke and scattered, as if dispelled 
by an unseen power. Great numbers were slaughtered by 
the Hussite army, which pursued the fugitives, and an im- 
mense booty fell into the hands of the victors, so that the 
war, instead of impoverishing, enriched the Bohemians. 

A few years later, under a new pope, still another crusade 
was set on foot. As before, men and means were drawn 
from all the papist countries of Europe. Great were the 



irrss axd jerque. m 



inducements held out to those who should engage in this per- 
ilous enterprise. Full forgiveness of the most heinous crimes 
was insured to every crusader. All who died in the war 
were promised a rich reward in Heaven, and those who sur- 
vived were to reap honor and riches on the field of battle. 
Again a vast army was collected, and crossing the frontier 
they entered Bohemia. The Hussite forces fell back before 
them, thus drawing the invaders farther and farther into 
the country, and leading them to count the victory already 
won. At last the army of Procopius made a stand, and, 
turning upon the foe, advanced to give them battle. The 
crusaders, now discovering their mistake, lay in their encamp- 
ment awaiting the onset. As the sound of the approaching 
force was heard, even before the Hussites were in sight, a 
panic again fell upon the crusaders. Princes, generals, and 
common soldiers, casting away their armor, fled in all direc- 
tions. In vain the papal legate, who was the leader of the 
invasion, endeavored to rally his terrified and disorganized 
forces. Despite his utmost endeavors, he himself was swept 
along in the tide of fugitives. The rout was complete, and 
again an immense booty fell into the hands of the victors. 

Thus the second time a vast army, sent forth by the most 
powerful nations of Europe, a host of brave, warlike men, 
trained and equipped for battle, fled without a blow, before 
the defenders of a small and hitherto feeble nation. Here 
was a manifestation of divine power. The invaders were 
smitten with a supernatural terror. He who overthrew the 
hosts of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, who put to flight the armies 
of Midian before Gideon and his three hundred, who in one 
night laid low the forces of the proud Assyrian, had again 
stretched out his hand to wither the power of the oppressor. 
"There were they in great fear, where no fear was; for God 
hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee; 
thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised 
them." l 

The papal leaders, despairing of conquering by force, at 

i Ps„ 5o:d, 



118 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



last resorted to diplomacy. A compromise was entered into, 
that while professing to grant to the Bohemians freedom of 
conscience, really betrayed them into the power of Rome. 
The Bohemians had specified four points as the condition of 
peace with Rome : The free preaching of the Bible ; the right 
of the whole church to both the bread and the wine in the 
communion, and the use of the mother-tongue in divine 
worship; the exclusion of the clergy from all secular offices 
and authority; and in cases of crime, the jurisdiction of the 
civil courts over clergy and laity alike. The papal author- 
ities at last agreed to accept the four articles, stipulating, 
however, that the right of explaining them, of deciding upon 
their exact meaning, should belong to the church. On this 
basis a treaty was entered into, and Rome gained by dissim- 
ulation and fraud what she had failed to gain by conflict; 
for, placing her own interpretation upon the Hussite articles, 
as upon the Bible, she could pervert their meaning to suit 
her own purposes. 

A large class in Bohemia, seeing that it betrayed their 
liberties, could not consent to the compact. Dissensions and 
divisions arose, leading to strife and bloodshed among them- 
selves. In this strife the noble Procopius fell, and the lib- 
erties of Bohemia perished. 

Sigismund, the betrayer of Huss and Jerome, now became 
king of Bohemia, and, regardless of his oath to support the 
rights of the Bohemians, he proceeded to establish popery. 
But he had gained little by his subservience to Rome. For 
twenty years his life had been filled with labors and perils. 
His armies had been wasted and his treasuries drained by a 
long and fruitless struggle; and now, after reigning one 
year, he died, leaving his kingdom on the brink of civil war, 
and bequeathing to posterity a name branded with infamy. 

Tumults, strife, and bloodshed were protracted. Again 
foreign armies invaded Bohemia, and internal dissension 
continued to distract the nation. Those who remained 
faithful to the gospel were subjected to a bloody persecution. 



HFSS A NO JER OME. 11!) 



As their former brethren, entering into compact with Rome, 
imbibed her errors, those who adhered to the ancient faith 
had formed themselves into a distinct church, taking the 
name of "United Brethren." This act drew upon them 
maledictions from all classes. Yet their firmness was un- 
shaken. Forced to find refuge in the woods and caves, they 
still assembled to read God's Word and unite in his worship. 

Through messengers secretly sent out into different coun- 
tries, they learned that here and there were isolated con- 
fessors of the truth — a few in this city and a few in that, 
the object, like themselves, of persecution; and that amid 
the mountains of the Alps was an ancient church, resting 
on the foundations of Scripture. This intelligence was re- 
ceived with great joy, and a correspondence was opened 
with the Waldensian Christians. 

Steadfast to the gospel, the Bohemians waited through the 
night of their persecution, in the darkest hour still turning 
their eyes toward the horizon like men who watch for the 
morning. "Their lot was cast in evil days, but they re- 
membered the words first uttered by Huss, and repeated by 
Jerome, that a century must revolve before the day should 
break. These were to the Hussites what the words of Joseph 
were to the tribes in the house of bondage: 'I die, and God 
will surely visit you, and bring you out.'" About the year 
1470 persecution ceased, and there followed a period of com- 
parative prosperity. When "the end of the century arrived, 
it found two hundred churches of the ' United Brethren ' in 
Bohemia and Moravia. So goodly was the remnant which, 
escaping the destructive fury of fire and sword, was per- 
mitted to see the dawning of that day which Huss had fore- 
told." 



CHAPTER VII 



LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 

Foremost among those who were called to lead the church 
from the darkness of popery into the light of a purer faith, 
stood Martin Luther. Zealous, ardent, and devoted, know- 
ing no fear but the fear of God, and acknowledging no foun- 
dation for religious faith but the Holy Scriptures, Luther 
was the man for his time; through him, God accomplished 
a great work for the reformation of the church and the en- 
lightenment of the world. 

Like the first heralds of the gospel, Luther sprung from 
the ranks of poverty. His early years were spent in the 
humble home of a German peasant. By daily toil as a 
miner, his father earned the means for his education. He 
intended him for a lawyer ; but God purposed to make him 
a builder in the great temple that was rising so slowly 
through the centuries. Hardship, privation, and severe 
discipline were the school in which Infinite Wisdom pre- 
pared Luther for the important mission of his life. 

Luther's father was a man of strong and active mind, 
and great force of character, honest, resolute, and straight- 
forward. He was true to his convictions of duty, let the 
consequences be what they might. His sterling good sense 
led him to regard the monastic system with distrust. He 
was highly displeased when Luther, without his consent, 
entered a monastery ; and it was two years before the father 
was reconciled to his son, and even then his opinions re- 
mained the same. 

Luther's parents bestowed great care upon the education 
and training of their children. They endeavored to instruct 

(120) 




REFORMERS OF, THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 121 



them in the knowledge of God and the practice of Christian 
virtues. The father's prayer often ascended in the hearing 
of his son, that the child might remember the name of the 
Lord, and one day aid in the advancement of his truth. 
Every advantage for moral or intellectual culture which 
their life of toil permitted them to enjoy, was eagerly im- 
proved by these parents. Their efforts were earnest and 
persevering to prepare their children for a life of piety and 
usefulness. With their firmness and strength of character 
they sometimes exercised too great severity; but the reformer 
himself, though conscious that in some respects they had 
erred, found in their discipline more to approve than to con- 
demn. 

At school, where he was sent at an early age, Luther was 
treated with harshness and even violence. So great was the 
poverty of his parents, that upon going from home to school 
in another town he was for a time obliged to obtain his food 
by singing from door to door, and he often suffered from 
hunger. The gloomy, superstitious ideas of religion then 
prevailing filled him with fear. He would lie clown at 
night with a sorrowful heart, looking forward with trembling 
to the dark future, and in constant terror at the thought of 
God as a stern, unrelenting judge, a cruel tyrant, rather than 
a kind heavenly Father. Yet under so many and so great 
discouragements, Luther pressed resolutely forward toward 
the high standard of nioral and intellectual excellence which 
attracted his soul. 

He thirsted for knowledge, and the earnest and practical 
character of his mind led him to desire the solid and useful 
rather than the showy and superficial. When, at the age 
of eighteen, he entered the University of Erfurt, his situa- 
tion was more favorable and his prospects brighter than in 
his earlier years. His parents having by thrift and industry 
acquired a competence, they were able to render him all 
needed assistance. And the influence of judicious friends 
had somewhat lessened the gloomy effects of his former 



122 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



training. He applied himself to the study of the best 
authors, diligently treasuring their most weighty thoughts, 
and making the wisdom of the wise his own. Even under 
the harsh discipline of his former instructors, he had early 
given promise of distinction; and with favorable influences 
his mind rapidly developed. A retentive memory, a lively 
imagination, strong reasoning powers, and untiring applica- 
tion, soon placed him in the foremost rank among his asso- 
ciates. Intellectual discipline ripened his understanding, and 
aroused an activity of mind and a keenness of perception 
that were preparing him for the conflicts of his life. 

The fear of the Lord dwelt in the heart of Luther, ena- 
bling him to maintain his steadfastness of purpose, and lead- 
ing him to deep humility before God. He had an abiding 
sense of his dependence upon divine aid, and he did not 
fail to begin each day with prayer, while his heart was con- 
tinually breathing a petition for guidance and support. " To 
pray well," he often said, "is the better half of study." 

While one day examining the books in the library of the 
university, Luther discovered a Latin Bible. Such a book he 
had never before seen. He was ignorant even of its exist- 
ence. He had heard portions of the Gospels and Epistles, 
which were read to the people at public worship, and he 
supposed that these were the entire Bible. Now, for the 
first time, he looked upon the whole of God's Word. With 
mingled awe and wonder he turned the sacred pages; with 
quickened pulse and throbbing heart he read for himself the 
words of life, pausing now and then to exclaim, " Oh, if God 
would give me such a book for my own ! " Angels of Heaven 
were by his side, and rays of light from the throne of God 
revealed the treasures of truth to his understanding. He 
had ever feared to offend God, but now the deep conviction 
of his condition as a sinner took hold upon him as never 
before. 

An earnest desire to be free from sin and to find peace 
with God, led him at last to enter a cloister, and devote him- 



LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM HOME. 123 

self to a monastic life. Here he was required to perform the 
lowest drudgery, and to beg from house to house. He was 
at an age when respect and appreciation are most eagerly 
craved, and these menial offices were deeply mortifying to 
his natural feelings; but he patiently endured this humilia- 
tion, believing that it was necessary because of his sins. 

Every moment that could be spared from his daily duties 
he employed in study, robbing himself of sleep, and grudg- 
ing even the time spent at his scanty meals. Above every- 
thing else he delighted in the study of God's Word. He 
had found a Bible chained to the convent wall, and to this 
he often repaired. As his convictions of sin deepened, he 
sought by his own works to obtain pardon and peace. He 
led a most rigorous life, endeavoring, by fasting, vigils, and 
scourgings, to subdue the evils of his nature, from which 
the monastic life had brought no release. He shrank from 
no sacrifice by which he might attain to that purity of heart 
which would enable him to stand approved before God. " I 
was indeed a pious monk," he afterward said, " and followed 
the rules of my order more strictly than I can express. If 
ever monk could attain Heaven by his monkish works, I 
should certainly have been entitled to it. If I had continued 
much longer, I should have carried my mortifications even to 
death." As the result of this painful discipline, he lost 
strength, and suffered from fainting spasms, from the effects 
of which he never fully recovered. But with all his efforts, 
his burdened soul found no relief. He was at last driven to 
the verge of despair. 

When it appeared to Luther that all was lost, God raised 
up a friend and helper for him. The pious Staupitz opened 
the Word of God to Luther's mind, and bade him look away 
from himself, cease the contemplation of infinite punishment 
for the violation of God's law, and look to Jesus, his sin- 
pardoning Saviour. "Instead of torturing yourself on ac- 
count of your sins, cast yourself into the arms of your Re- 
deemer. Trust in him, — in the righteousness of his life, — in 



124 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



the atonement of his death. Listen to the Son of God. He 
became man to give you the assurance of divine favor." 
" Love him who has first loved you." Thus spoke this mes- 
senger of mercy. His words made a deep impression upon 
Luther's mind. After many a struggle with long-cherished 
errors, he was enabled to grasp the truth, and peace came to 
his troubled soul. 

Luther was ordained a priest, and was called from the 
cloister to a professorship in the University of Wittenberg. 
Here he applied himself to the study of the Scriptures in 
the original tongues. He began to lecture upon the Bible; 
and the book of Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles were 
opened to the understanding of crowds of delighted listeners. 
Staupitz, his friend and superior, urged him to ascend the 
pulpit, and preach the Word of God. Luther hesitated, feel- 
ing himself unworthy to speak to the people in Christ's 
stead. It was only after a long struggle that he yielded to 
the solicitations of his friends. Already he was mighty in 
the Scriptures, and the grace of God rested upon him. His 
eloquence captivated his hearers, the clearness and power 
with which he presented the truth convinced their under- 
standing, and his fervor touched their hearts. 

Luther was still a true son of the papal church, and had 
no thought that he would ever be anything else. In the 
providence of God he was led to visit Rome. He pursued 
his journey on foot, lodging at the monasteries on the way. 
At a convent in Italy he was filled with wonder at the 
wealth, magnificence, and luxury that he witnessed. En- 
dowed with a princely revenue, the monks dwelt in splendid 
apartments, attired themselves in the richest and most costly 
robes, and feasted at a sumptuous table. With painful mis- 
givings Luther contrasted this scene with the self-denial and 
hardship of his own life. His mind was becoming perplexed. 

At last he beheld in the distance the seven-hilled city. 
With deep emotion he prostrated himself upon the earth, 
exclaiming, " Holy Rome, I salute thee ! " He entered the 



LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 125 



city, visited the churches, listened to the marvelous tales 
repeated by priests and monks, and performed all the cere- 
monies required. Everywhere he looked upon scenes that 
rilled him with astonishment and horror. He saw that 
iniquity existed among all classes of the clergy. He heard 
indecent jokes from prelates, and was filled with horror at 
their awful profanity, even during mass. As he mingled 
with the monks and citizens, he met dissipation, debauchery. 
Turn where he would, in the place of sanctity he found prof- 
anation. " It is incredible," he wrote, " what sins and atroc- 
ities are committed in Rome; they must be seen and heard 
to be believed. So that it is usual to say, ' If there be a hell, 
Rome is built above it, It is an abyss whence all sins pro- 
ceed.'" 

By a recent decretal, an indulgence had been promised by 
the pope to all who should ascend upon their knees " Pilate's 
staircase," said to have been descended by our Saviour on 
leaving the Roman judgment-hall, and to have been mirac- 
ulously conveyed from Jerusalem to Rome. Luther was 
one day devoutly climbing these steps, when suddenly a 
voice like thunder seemed to say to bim, "The just shall 
live by faith." 1 He sprung upon his feet, and hastened from 
the place, in shame and horror. That text never lost its 
power upon his soul. From that time he saw more clearly 
than ever before the fallacy of trusting to human works for 
salvation, and the necessity of constant faith in the merits of 
Christ. His eyes had been opened, and were never again to 
be closed, to the delusions of the papacy. When he turned 
his face from Rome, he had turned away also in heart, and 
from that time the separation grew wider, until he severed 
all connection with the papal church. 

After his return from Rome, Luther received at the Uni- 
versity of Wittenberg the degree of doctor of divinity. Now 
he was at liberty to devote himself, as never before, to the 
Scriptures that he loved. He had taken a solemn vow to 
study carefully and to preach with fidelity the Word of God, 

iRorn. 1:17. 



126 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



not the sayings and doctrines of the popes, all the days of 
his life. He was no longer the mere monk or professor, but 
the authorized herald of the Bible. He had been called as 
a shepherd to feed the flock of God, that were hungering 
and thirsting for the truth. He firmly declared that Chris- 
tians should receive no other doctrines than thoso which 
rest on the authority of the Sacred Scriptures . These words 
struck at the very foundation of papal supremacy. They 
contained the vital principle of the Reformation. 

Luther saw the danger of exalting human theories above 
the Word of God. He fearlessly attacked the speculative 
infidelity of the schoolmen, and opposed the philosophy and 
theology which had so long held a controlling influence 
upon the people. He denounced such studies as not only 
worthless but pernicious, and sought to turn the minds of 
his hearers from the sophistries of philosophers and theolo- 
gians to the eternal truths set forth by prophets and apostles. 

Precious was the message which he bore to the eager 
crowds that hung upon his words. Never before had such 
teachings fallen upon their ears. The glad tidings of a 
Saviour's love, the assurance of pardon and peace through 
his atoning blood, rejoiced their hearts, and inspired within 
them an immortal hope. At Wittenberg a light was kin- 
dled whose rays should extend to the uttermost parts of the 
earth, and which was to increase in brightness to the close 
of time. 

But light and darkness cannot harmonize. Between truth 
and error there is an irrepressible conflict. To uphold and 
defend the one is to attack and overthrow the other. Our 
Saviour himself declared, "I came not to send peace, but a 
sword." 1 Said Luther, a few years after the opening of the 
Reformation, " God does not conduct, but drives me forward. 
I am not master of my own actions. I would gladly live in 
repose, but I am thrown into the midst of tumults and rev- 
olutions." He was now about to be urged into the contest. 

The Roman Church had made merchandise of the grace 

'Matt. 10:34. 



LrriiErrs separation from rove. 127 



of* God. The tables of the money-changers 1 were set up 
beside her altars, and the air resounded with the shouts of 
buyers and sellers. Under the plea of raising funds for the 
erection of St. Peter's church at Rome, indulgences for sin 
were publicly offered for sale by the authority of the pope. 
By the price of crime a temple was to be built up for God's 
worship, — the corner-stone laid with the wages of iniquity. 
But the very means adopted for Rome's aggrandizement 
provoked the deadliest blow to her power and greatness. It 
was this that aroused the most determined and successful of 
the enemies of popery, and led to the battle which shook 
the papal throne, and jostled the triple crown upon the 
pontiff's head. 

The official appointed to conduct the sale of indulgences 
in Germany— Tetzel by name — had been convicted of the 
basest offenses against society and against the law of God; 
but having escaped the punishment due to his crimes, he 
was employed to further the mercenary and unscrupulous 
projects of the }Dope. With great effrontery he repeated the 
most glaring falsehoods, and related marvelous tales to de- 
ceive an ignorant, credulous, and superstitious people. Had 
they possessed the Word of God, they would not have been 
thus deceived. It was to keep them under the control of 
the papacy, in order to swell the power and wealth of her 
ambitious leaders, that the Bible had been withheld from 
them. 

As Tetzel entered a town, a messenger went before him, 
announcing, " The grace of God and of the holy father is at 
your gates." And the people welcomed the blasphemous 
pretender as if he were God himself come down from Heaven 
to them. The infamous traffic was set up in the church, and 
Tetzel, ascending the jDulpit, extolled indulgences as the most 
precious gift of God. He declared that by virtue of his cer- 
tificates of pardon, all the sins which the purchaser should 
afterward desire to commit would be forgiven him, and that 
"even repentance was not indispensable." More than this, 

1 Matt. 21 : 12. 



128 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

lie assured his hearers that the indulgences had power to 
save not only the living but the dead; that the very moment 
the money should clink against the bottom of his chest, the 
soul in whose behalf it had been paid would escape from 
purgatory and make its way to Heaven. 

When Simon Magus offered to purchase of the apostles 
the power to work miracles, Peter answered him, "Thy 
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the 
gift of God may be purchased with money." l But Tetzel's 
offer was grasped by eager thousands. Gold and silver flowed 
into his treasury. A salvation that could be bought with 
money was more easily obtained than that which requires 
repentance, faith, and diligent effort to resist and overcome sin. 

The doctrine of indulgences had been opposed by men of 
learning and piety in the Romish Church, and there were 
many who had no faith in pretensions so contrary to both 
reason and revelation. No prelate dared lift his voice 
against this iniquitous traffic, but the minds of men were 
becoming disturbed and uneasy, and many eagerly inquired 
if God would not work through some instrumentality for the 
purification of his church. 

Luther, though still a papist of the straitest sort, was filled 
with horror at the blasphemous assumptions of the indul- 
gence-mongers. Many of his own congregation had jDurchased 
certificates of pardon, and they soon began to come to their 
pastor, confessing their various sins, and expecting absolu- 
tion, not because they were penitent and wished to reform, 
but on the ground of the indulgence. Luther refused them 
absolution, and warned them that unless they should repent 
and reform their lives, they must perish in their sins. In 
great perplexity they repaired to Tetzel with the complaint 
that their confessor had refused his certificates; and some 
boldly demanded that their money be returned to them. 
The friar was filled with rage. He uttered the most terrible 
curses, caused fires to be lighted in the public squares, and 

1 Acts 8 : 20. 



LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 129 



declared that lie had orders from the pope "to burn the her- 
etics who dared oppose his most holy indulgences." 

Luther now entered boldly upon his work as a champion 
of the truth. His voice was heard from the pulpit in earnest, 
solemn warning. He set before the people the offensive char- 
acter of sin, and taught them that it is impossible for man, 
by his own works, to lessen its guilt or evade its punishment. 
Nothing but repentance toward God and faith in Christ can 
save the sinner. The grace of Christ cannot be purchased ; 
it is a free gift. He counseled the people not to buy the 
indulgences, but to look in faith to a crucified Redeemer. He 
related his own painful experience in vainly seeking by 
humiliation and penance to secure salvation, and assured 
his hearers that it was by looking away from himself and 
believing in Christ that he found peace and joy. 

As Tetzel continued his traffic and his impious pretensions, 
Luther determined upon a more effectual protest against these 
crying abuses. An occasion soon offered. The castle church 
of Wittenberg possessed many relics, which on certain holy 
days were exhibited to the people, and full remission of sins 
was granted to all who then visited the church and made 
confession. Accordingly on these days the people in great 
numbers resorted thither. One of the most important of 
these occasions, the festival of "All-Saints," was approaching. 
On the preceding day, Luther, joining the crowds that w T ere 
already making their way to the church, posted on its door 
a paper containing ninety-five propositions against the doc- 
trine of indulgences. He declared his willingness to defend 
these theses next day at the university, against all who should 
see fit to attack them. 

His propositions attracted universal attention. They were 
read and re-read and repeated in every direction. Great 
excitement was created in the university and in the whole 
city. By these theses it was shown that the power to grant 
the pardon of sin, and to remit its penalty, had never been com- 
mitted to the pope or to any other man. The whole scheme 

11 



130 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



was a farce, — an artifice to extort money by playing upon 
the superstitions of the people, — a device of Satan to destroy 
the souls of all who should trust to its lying pretensions. It 
was also clearly shown that the gospel of Christ is the most 
valuable treasure of the church, and that the grace of God, 
therein revealed, is freely bestowed upon all who seek it by 
repentance and faith. 

Luther's theses challenged discussion; but no one dared 
accept the challenge. The questions which he proposed had 
in a few days spread through all Germany, and in a few 
weeks they had sounded throughout Christendom. Many 
devoted Romanists, who had seen and lamented the terrible 
iniquity prevailing in the church, but had not known how 
to arrest its progress, read the propositions with great joy, 
recognizing in them the voice of God. They felt that the 
Lord had graciously set his hand to arrest the rapidly swell- 
ing tide of corruption that was issuing from the see of Rome. 
Princes and magistrates secretly rejoiced that a check was to 
be put upon the arrogant power which denied the right of 
appeal from its decisions. 

But the sin-loving and superstitious multitudes were terri- 
fied as the sophistries that had soothed their fears were swept 
away. Crafty ecclesiastics, interrupted in their work of sanc- 
tioning crime, and seeing theirgains endangered, were enraged, 
and rallied to uphold their pretensions. The reformer had 
bitter accusers to meet. Some charged him with acting 
hastily and from impulse. Others accused him of presump- 
tion, declaring that he was not directed of God, but was act- 
ing from pride and forwardness. " Who does not know," he 
responded, " that one can seldom advance a new idea with- 
out having some appearance of pride, and without being 
accused of exciting quarrels? Why were Christ and all the 
martyrs put to death? — Because they appeared proud despis- 
ers of the wisdom of the times in which they lived, and 
because they brought forward new truths without having 
first consulted the oracles of the old opinions." 



LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 131 



Again he declared: " What I am doing will not be effected 
by the prudence of man, but by the counsel of God. If the 
work be of God, who shall stop it? If it be not, who shall 
forward it? Not my will, not theirs, not ours, but thy will, 
holy Father who art in Heaven ! " 

Though Luther had been moved by the Spirit of God to 
begin his work, he was not to carry it forward without severe 
conflicts. The reproaches of his enemies, their misrepresen- 
tation of his purposes, and their unjust and malicious reflec- 
tions upon his character and motives, came in upon him 
like an overwhelming flood; and they were not without 
effect. He had felt confident that the leaders of the people, 
both in the church and in the schools, would gladly unite 
with him in efforts for reform. Words of encouragement 
from those in high position had inspired him with joy and 
hope. Already in anticipation he had seen a brighter day 
dawning for the church. But encouragement had changed 
to reproach and condemnation. Many dignitaries, both of 
Church and State, were convicted of the truthfulness of his 
theses; but they soon saw that the acceptance of these truths 
would involve great changes. To enlighten and reform the 
people would be virtually to undermine the authority of 
Rome, to stop thousands of streams now flowing into her 
treasury, and thus greatly to curtail the extravagance and 
luxury of the papal leaders. Furthermore, to teach the peo- 
ple to think and act as responsible beings, looking to Christ 
alone for salvation, would overthrow the pontiff's throne, and 
eventually destroy their own authority. For this reason 
they refused the knowledge tendered them of God, and ar- 
rayed themselves against Christ and the truth by their 
opposition to the man whom he had sent to enlighten them. 

Luther trembled as he looked upon himself, — one man 
opposed to the mightiest powers of earth. He sometimes 
doubted whether he had indeed been led of God to set him- 
self against the authority of the church. " Who was I" he 
writes, "to oppose the majesty of the pope, before whom the 



132 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

kings of the earth and the whole world trembled?" "No 
one can know what I suffered in those first two years, and 
into what dejection and even despair I was often plunged;" 
But he was not left to become utterly disheartened. When 
human support failed, he looked to God alone, and learned 
that he could lean in perfect safety upon that all-powerful 
arm. 

To a friend of the Reformation Luther wrote : " We cannot 
attain to the understanding of Scripture either by study or 
by strength of intellect. Therefore your first duty must be 
to begin with prayer. Entreat the Lord to deign to grant 
you, in his rich mercy, rightly to understand his Word. 
There is no other interpreter of the Word but the Author of 
that Word himself. Even as he has said, ' They shall all be 
taught of God.' Hope nothing from your study and the 
strength of your intellect; but simply put your trust in God, 
and in the guidance of his Spirit. Believe one who has 
made trial of this matter." Here is a lesson of vital impor- 
tance to those who feel that God has called them to present 
to others the solemn truths for this time. These truths will 
stir the enmity of Satan, and of men who love the fables that 
he has devised. In the conflict with the powers of evil, 
there is need of something more than strength of intellect 
and human wisdom. 

When enemies appealed to custom and tradition, or to 
the assertions and authority of the pope, Luther met them 
with the Bible, and the Bible only. Here were arguments 
which they could not answer ; therefore the slaves of formal- 
ism and superstition clamored for his blood, as the Jews had 
clamored for the blood of Christ. " He is a heretic," cried 
the Roman zealots ; " it is a sin to allow him to live an hour 
longer! Away with him at once to the scaffold!" But 
Luther did not fall a prey to their fury. God had a work 
for him to do, and angels of Heaven were sent to protect 
him. Many, however, who had received from Luther the 
precious light, were made the objects of Satan's wrath, and 
for the truth's sake fearlessly suffered torture and death. 



LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 133 



Luther's teachings attracted the attention of thoughtful 
minds throughout all Germany. From his sermons and 
writings issued beams of light which awakened and illumi- 
nated thousands. A living faith was taking the place of 
the dead formalism in which the church had so long been 
held. The people were daily losing confidence in the super- 
stitions of Romanism. The barriers of prejudice were giving 
way. The Word of God, by which Luther tested every 
doctrine and every claim, was like a two-edged sword, cut- 
ting its way to the hearts of the people. Everywhere there 
was awakening a desire for spiritual progress. Everywhere 
was such a hungering and thirsting after righteousness as 
had not been known for ages. The eyes of the people, so 
long directed to human rites and earthly mediators, were 
now turning, in penitence and faith, to Christ and him cru- 
cified. 

This widespread interest aroused still further the fears of 
the papal authorities. Luther received a summons to ap- 
pear at Rome to answer to the charge of heresy. The com- 
mand filled his friends with terror. They knew full well 
the danger that threatened him in that corrupt city, already 
drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. They pro- 
tested against his going to Rome, and requested that he 
receive his examination in Germany. 

This arrangement was finally effected, and the pope's 
legate was appointed to hear the case. In the instructions 
communicated by the pontiff to this official, it was stated 
that Luther had already been declared a heretic. The legate 
was therefore charged to "prosecute and reduce him to sub- 
mission without delay." If he should remain steadfast, and 
the legate should fail to gain possession of his person, he 
was empowered to "proscribe him in all places in Germany, 
to put away, curse, and excommunicate all who were 
attached to him." And further, the pope directed his 
legate, in order entirely to root out the pestilent heresy, to 
excommunicate all, of whatever dignity in Church or State, 



134 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

except the emperor, who should neglect to seize Luther and 
his adherents, and deliver them up to the vengeance of Rome. 

Here is displayed the true spirit of popery. Not a trace 
of Christian principle, or even of common justice, is to be 
seen in the whole document. Luther was at a great dis- 
tance from Rome ; he had had no opportunity to explain or 
defend his position ; yet before his case had been investigated, 
he was summarily pronounced a heretic, and, in the same 
day, exhorted, accused, judged, and condemned; and all this 
by the self-styled holy father, the only supreme, infallible 
authority in Church or State ! 

At this time, when Luther so much needed the sympathy 
and counsel of a true friend, God's" providence sent Melanc- 
thon to Wittenberg. Young in years, modest and diffident 
in his manners, Melancthon's sound judgment, extensive 
knowledge, and winning eloquence, combined with the 
purity and uprightness of his character, won universal admi- 
ration and esteem. The brilliancy of his talents was not 
more marked than his gentleness of disposition. He soon 
became an earnest disciple of the gospel, and Luther's most 
trusted friend and valued supporter'; his gentleness, caution, 
and exactness serving as a complement to. Luther's courage 
and energy. Their union in the work added strength to the 
Reformation, and was a source of great encouragement to 
Luther. 

Augsburg had been fixed upon as the place of trial, and 
the reformer set out on foot to perform the journey thither. 
Serious fears were entertained in his behalf. Threats had 
been made openly that he would be seized and murdered on 
the way, and his friends begged him not to venture. They 
even entreated him to leave Wittenberg for a time, and find 
safety with those who would gladly protect him. But he 
would not leave the position where God had placed him. 
He must continue faithfully to maintain the truth, notwith- 
standing the storms that were beating upon him. His 
language was : "lam like Jeremiah, a man of strife and 



LUTHER IS SEPARATION FROM ROME. 135 

contention ; but the more they increase their threatenings, 
the more they multiply my joy. . . . They have already 
torn to pieces my honor and my good name. All I have 
left is my wretched body; let them have it; they will then 
shorten my life by a few hours. But as to my soul, they 
shall not have that. He who resolves to bear the word of 
Christ to the world, must expect death at every hour." 

The tidings of Luther's arrival at Augsburg gave great 
satisfaction to the papal legate. The troublesome heretic 
who was exciting the attention of the w T hole world seemed 
now in the power of Rome, and the legate determined that 
he should not escape. The reformer had failed to provide 
himself with a safe-conduct. His friends urged him not to 
appear before the legate without one, and they themselves 
undertook to procure it from the emperor. The legate in- 
tended to force Luther, if possible, to retract, or, failing in 
this, to cause him to be conveyed to Rome, to share the fate 
of Huss and Jerome. Therefore through his agents he 
endeavored to induce Luther to appear without a safe-con- 
duct, trusting himself to his mercy. This the reformer firmly 
declined to do. Not until he had received the document 
pledging him the emperor's protection, did he appear in the 
presence of the papal ambassador. 

As a matter of policy, the Romanists had decided to 
attempt to win Luther by an appearance of gentleness. The 
legate, in his interviews with him, professed great friendli- 
ness ; but he demanded that Luther submit implicitly to the 
authority of the church, and yield every point, without argu- 
ment or question. He had not rightly estimated the character 
of the man with whom he had to deal. Luther, in reply, 
expressed his regard for the church, his desire for the truth, 
his readiness to answer all objections to what he had taught, 
and to submit his doctrines to the decision of certain lead- 
ing universities. But at the same time he protested against 
the cardinal's course in requiring him to retract without 
having proved him in error. 



136 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



The only response was, " Recant, recant." The reformer 
showed that his position was sustained by the Scriptures, 
and firmly declared that he could not renounce the truth. 
The legate, unable to reply to Luther's arguments, over- 
whelmed him with a storm of reproaches, gibes, and flat- 
tery, interspersed with quotations from tradition and the say- 
ings of the Fathers, granting the reformer no opportunity to 
speak. Seeing that the conference, thus continued, would be 
utterly futile, Luther finally obtained a reluctant permission 
to present his answer in writing. 

" In so doing," said he, writing to a friend, " the oppressed 
find double gain ; first, what is written may be submitted to 
the judgment of others; and second, one has a better chance 
of working on the fears, if not on the conscience, of an arro- 
gant and babbling despot, who would otherwise overpower 
by his imperious language." At the next interview, Luther 
presented a clear, concise, and forcible exposition of his 
views, fully supported by many quotations from Scripture. 
This paper, after reading aloud, he handed to the cardinal, 
who, however, cast it contemptuously aside, declaring it to 
be a mass of idle words and irrelevant quotations. Luther, 
fully roused, now met the haughty prelate on his own 
ground, — the traditions and teachings of the church, — and 
utterly overthrew his assumptions. 

When the prelate saw that Luther's reasoning was unan- 
swerable, he lost all self-control, and in a rage cried out: 
"Retract, or I will send you to Rome, there to appear before 
the judges commissioned to take cognizance of your case. I 
will excommunicate you and all your partisans, and all Avho 
shall at any time countenance you, and will cast them out 
of the church." And he finally declared, in a haughty and 
angry tone, " Retract, or return no more." 

The reformer promptly withdrew with his friends, thus 
declaring plainly that no retraction was to be expected from 
him. This was not what the cardinal had purposed . He had 
flattered himself that by violence he could awe Luther to 



LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 137 



submission. Now, left alone with his supporters, he looked 
from one to another, in utter chagrin at the unexpected 
failure of his schemes. 

Luther's efforts on this occasion were not without good 
results. The large assembly present had opportunity to 
compare the two men. and to judge for themselves of the 
spirit manifested by them, as well as of the strength and 
truthfulness of their positions. How marked the contrast! 
The reformer, simple, humble, firm, stood up in the strength 
of God, having truth on his side; the pope's representative, 
self-important, overbearing, haughty, and unreasonable, was 
without a single argument from the Scriptures, yet vehe- 
mently crying, " Retract, or be sent to Rome for punishment." 

Notwithstanding Luther had secured a safe-conduct, the 
Romanists were plotting to seize and imprison him. His 
friends urged that as it was useless for him to prolong his 
stay, he should return to Wittenberg without delay, and that 
the utmost caution should be observed in order to conceal 
his intentions. He accordingly left Augsburg before day- 
break, on horseback, accompanied only by a guide furnished 
him by the magistrate. With many forebodings he secretly 
made his way through the dark and silent streets of the city. 
Enemies, vigilant and cruel, were plotting his destruction. 
'Would he escape the snares prepared for him? Those were 
moments of anxiety and earnest prayer. He reached a small 
gate in the wall of the city. It was opened for him, and 
with his guide he passed through without hindrance. Once 
safely outside, the fugitives hastened their flight, and before 
the legate learned of Luther's departure, he was beyond the 
reach of his persecutors. Satan and his emissaries were 
defeated. The man whom they had thought in their power 
was gone, escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowler. 

At the news of Luther's escape, the legate was over- 
whelmed with surprise and anger. He had expected to 
receive great honor for his wisdom and firmness in dealing 
with this disturber of the church; but his hope was disap- 



138 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

pointed. He gave expression to his wrath in a letter to 
Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, bitterly denouncing Lu- 
ther, and demanding that Frederick send the reformer to 
Rome or banish him from Saxony. 

In defense, Luther urged that the legate or the pope show 
him his errors from the Scriptures, and pledged himself in 
the most solemn manner to renounce his doctrines if they 
could be shown to contradict the Word of God. And he 
expressed his gratitude to God that he had been counted 
worthy to suffer in so holy a cause. 

The elector had, as yet, little knowledge of the reformed 
doctrines, but he was deeply impressed by the candor, force, 
and clearness of Luther's words; and, until the reformer 
should be proved to be in error, Frederick resolved to stand 
as his protector. In reply to the legate's demand he wrote: 
"Since Doctor Martin has appeared before you at Augsburg, 
you should be satisfied. We did not expect that you would 
endeavor to make him retract without having convinced 
him of his errors. None of the learned men in our prin- 
cipality have informed us that Martin's doctrine is im- 
pious, antichristian, or heretical. We must refuse, therefore, 
either to send Luther to Rome or to expel him from our 
States." 

The elector saw that there was a general breaking down 
of the moral restraints of society. A great work of reform 
was needed. The complicated and expensive arrangements 
to restrain and punish crime would be unnecessary if men 
but acknowledged and obeyed the requirements of God and 
the dictates of an enlightened conscience. He saw that Lu- 
ther was laboring to secure this object, and he secretly 
rejoiced that a better influence was making itself felt in the 
church. 

He saw also that as a professor in the university Luther 
was eminently successful. Only a year had passed since 
the reformer posted his theses on the castle church, yet there 
was already a great falling off in the number of pilgrims 



LUTHER 8 SEPARA TTON FROM ROME. 139 



Unit visited the church at the festival of All-Saints. Rome 
had been deprived of worshipers and offerings, but their 
place was rilled by another class, who now came to Witten- 
berg,— not pilgrims to adore her relics, but students to fill 
her halls of learning. The writings of Luther had kindled 
everywhere a new interest in the Holy Scriptures, and not 
only from all parts of Germany, but from other lands, 
students flocked to the university. Young men, coming in 
sight of Wittenberg for the first time, would "raise their 
hands to heaven, and bless God for having caused the 
light of truth to shine forth from Wittenberg, as in former 
ages from Mount Zion, that it might penetrate to the most 
distant lands." 

Luther was as yet but partially converted from the errors of 
Romanism. But as he compared the Holy Oracles with the 
papal decrees and constitutions, he was filled with wonder. 
" I am reading," he wrote, " the decretals of the popes, and 
. . . . I know not whether the pope is antichrist him- 
self, or whether he is his apostle; so misrepresented and even 
crucified does Christ appear in them." Yet at this time 
Luther was still a supporter of the Roman Church, and 
had no thought that he would ever separate from her com- 
munion. 

The reformer's writings and his doctrine were extending to 
eA 7 ery nation in Christendom. The work spread to Switzer- 
land and Holland. Copies of his writings found their way 
to France and Spain. In England his teachings were 
received as the word of life. To Belgium and Italy also the 
truth had extended. Thousands were awakening from their 
death-like stupor to the joy and hope of a life of faith. 

Rome became more and more exasperated by the attacks of 
Luther, and it was declared by some of his fanatical oppo- 
nents, even by doctors in Catholic universities, that he who 
should kill the rebellious monk would be without sin. One 
day a stranger, with a pistol hidden under his cloak, ap- 
proached the reformer, and inquired why he went thus 



140 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

alone. " I am in the hands of God," answered Luther. " He 
is my help and my shield. What can man do unto me?" 
Upon hearing these words, the stranger turned pale, and fled 
away, as from the presence of the angels of Heaven. 

Rome was bent upon the destruction of Luther; but God 
was his defense. His doctrines were heard everywhere, — in 
convents, in cottages, in the castles of the nobles, in the uni- 
versities, in the palaces of kings ; and noble men were rising 
on every hand to sustain his efforts. 

It was about this time that Luther, reading the works of 
Huss, found that the great truth of justification by faith, 
which he himself was seeking to uphold and teach, had been 
held by the Bohemian reformer. " We have all," said Luther, 
" Paul, Augustine, and myself, been Hussites without know- 
ing it." "God will surely visit it upon the world," he con- 
tinued, "that the truth was preached to it a century ago, and 
burned." 

In an appeal to the emperor and nobility of Germany in 
behalf of the Reformation of Christianity, Luther wrote 
concerning the pope : " It is monstrous to see him who is 
called the vicar of Christ, displaying a magnificence un- 
rivaled by that of any emperor. Is this to represent the 
poor and lowly Jesus or the humble St. Peter? The pope, 
say they, is the lord of the world ! But Christ, whose vicar 
he boasts of being, said, ' My kingdom is not of this world.' 
Can the dominions of a vicar extend beyond those of his 
superior?" 
4 He wrote thus of the universities: "I fear much that the 
universities will be found to be great gates leading clown to 
hell, unless they take diligent care to explain the Holy 
Scriptures, and to engrave them in the hearts of our youth. 
I advise no one to place his child where the Holy Scriptures 
are not regarded as the rule of life. Every institution where 
the Word of God is not diligently studied, must become 
corrupt." 

This appeal was rapidly circulated throughout Germany, 



LUTHERS SEPARATION FROM ROME. 141 



and exerted a powerful influence upon the people. The 
whole nation was stirred, and multitudes were roused to 
rally around the standard of reform. Luther's opponents. 
burning with a desire for revenge, urged the pope to take 
decisive measures against him. It was decreed that his 
doctrines should be immediately condemned. Sixty days 
were granted the reformer and his adherents, after which, if 
they did not recant, they were all to be excommunicated. 

That was a terrible crisis for the Reformation. For cent- 
uries Rome's sentence of excommunication had struck terror 
to powerful monarchs; it had filled mighty empires with 
woe and desolation. Those upon whom its condemnation 
fell, were universally regarded with dread and horror; they 
were cut off from intercourse with their fellows, and treated 
as outlaws, to be hunted to extermination. Luther was not 
blind to the tempest about to burst upon him ; but he stood 
firm, trusting in Christ to be his support and shield. With 
a martyr's faith and courage he wrote: "What is about to 
happen I know not, and I care not to know T ." "Wherever 
the blow may reach me, I fear not. Not so much as a leaf 
falls without the will of our Father; how T much rather will 
he care for us! It is a light matter to die for the Word, 
since this Word, that was made flesh for us, hath himself 
died. If we die with him, we shall live with him; and, 
passing through that which he has passed through before 
us, we shall be where he is, and dwell with him forever." 

When the papal bull reached Luther, he said: "I despise 
it, and resist it, as impious and false. . . . It is Christ 
himself who is condemned therein." " I glory in the pros- 
pect of suffering for the best of causes. Already I feel 
greater liberty ; for I know now that the pope is antichrist, 
and that his throne is that of Satan himself." 

Yet the mandate of Rome was not without effect. Prison, 
torture, and sword were weapons potent to enforce obedience. 
The weak and superstitious trembled before the decree of the 
pope, and while there was general sympathy for Luther, 



142 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, 



many felt that life was too dear to be risked in the cause of 
reform. Everything seemed to indicate that the reformer's 
work was about to close. 

But Luther was fearless still. Rome had hurled her 
anathemas against him, and the world looked on, nothing 
doubting that he would perish or be forced to yield. But 
with terrible power he flung back upon herself the sentence 
of condemnation, and publicly declared his determination 
to abandon her forever. In the presence of a crowd of 
students, doctors, and citizens of all ranks, Luther burned 
the pope's bull, with the canon laws, the decretals, and cer- 
tain writings sustaining the papal power. "My enemies 
have been able by burning my books," he said, "to injure 
the cause of truth in the minds of some, and to destroy souls; 
for this reason I consume their books in return. A serious 
struggle has just commenced. Hitherto I have been playing 
with the pope; now I wage open war. I began this work 
in God's name ; it will be ended without me, and by his 
might." 

To the reproaches of his enemies, who taunted him with 
the weakness of his cause, Luther answered : " Who knows 
if God has not chosen and called me to perform this needed 
work, and if these babblers ought not to fear that by despis- 
ing me, they despise God himself? They say I am alone; 
no, for Jehovah is with me. In their sense, Moses was alone 
at the departure from Egypt; Elijah was alone in the reign 
of King Ahab ; Isaiah was alone in Jerusalem ; Ezekiel was 
alone in Babylon. Hear this, Home: God never selected 
as a prophet either the high priest or any great personage; 
but rather, he chose low and despised men, once even the 
shepherd Amos. In every age the saints have been com 
pelled to rebuke kings, princes, recreant priests, and wise 
men at the peril of their lives." " I do not say that I also 
am a prophet ; but I do say that they ought to fear precisely 
because I am alone, while on the side of the oppressor are 
numbers, caste, wealth, and mocking letters. Yes, I am 



LUTHER 1 ^ SEPARATION FROM ROME. 143 



alone; but I stand serene, because side by side with me is 
the Word of God; and with all their boasted numbers, this, 
the greatest of powers, is not with them." 

Yet it was not without a terrible struggle with himself 
that Luther decided upon a final separation from the church. 
It was about this time that he wrote: "I feel more and more 
every day how difficult it is to lay aside the scruples which 
one has imbibed in childhood. Oh, how much pain it cost 
me, though I had the Scriptures on my side, to justify it to 
myself that I should dare to make a stand alone against the 
pope, and hold him forth as antichrist! What have the 
tribulations of my heart not been ! How many times have 
I asked myself with bitterness that question which was so 
frequent on the lips of the papists: 'Art thou alone wise? 
Can every one else be mistaken? How will it be, if, after 
all, it is thyself who art wrong, and who art involving 
in thy error so many souls, who will then be eternally 
damned?' 'Twas so I fought with myself and with Satan, 
till Christ, by his infallible Word, fortified my heart against 
these doubts." 

The pope had threatened Luther with excommunication 
if he did not recant, and the threat was now fulfilled. A 
new bull appeared, declaring the reformer's final separation 
from the Romish Church, denouncing him as accursed of 
Heaven, and including in the same condemnation all who 
should receive his doctrines. The great contest had been 
fully entered upon. 

Opposition is the lot of all whom God employs to present 
truths specially applicable to their time. There was a pres- 
ent truth in the days of Luther, — a truth at that time of 
special importance ; there is a present truth for the church 
to-day. He who does all things according to the counsel of 
his will, has been pleased to place men under various cir- 
cumstances, and to enjoin upon them duties peculiar to the 
times in which they live, and the conditions under which 
they are placed. If they would prize the light given them, 

12 



144 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

broader views of truth would be opened before them. But 
truth is no more desired by the majority to-day than it was 
by the papists who opposed Luther. There is the same 
disposition to accept the theories and traditions of men in- 
stead of the Word of God as in former ages. Those who 
present the truth for this time should not expect to be re- 
ceived with greater favor than were earlier reformers. The 
great controversy between truth and error, between Christ 
and Satan, is to increase in intensity to the close of this 
world's history. 

Said Jesus to his disciples: "If ye were of the world, the 
world would love his own; but because ye are not of the 
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the 
world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto 
you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they 
have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they 
have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." l - And on 
the other hand our Lord declared plainly : " Woe unto you, 
when all men shall speak well of you ! for so did their fathers 
to the false prophets." 2 The spirit of the world is no more 
in harmony with the Spirit of Christ to-day than in earlier 
times; and those who preach the Word of God in its purity 
will be received with no greater favor now than then. The 
forms of opposition to the truth may change, the enmity 
maybe less open because it is more subtle; but the same 
antagonism still exists, and will be manifested to the end of 
time. 

1 John 15:19, 20. 2 Luke 6 : 26. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 

A new emperor, Charles V., had ascended the throne of 
Germany, and the emissaries of Rome hastened to present 
their congratulations, and induce the monarch to employ his 
power against the Reformation. On the other hand, the 
Elector of Saxony, to whom Charles was in great degree 
indebted for his crown, entreated him to take no step against 
Luther until he should have granted him a hearing. The 
emperor was thus placed in a position of great perplexity 
and embarrassment. The papists would be satisfied with 
nothing short of an imperial edict sentencing Luther to 
death. The elector had declared firmly that "neither his 
imperial majesty nor any one else had yet made it appear to 
him that the reformer's writings had been refuted ;" there- 
fore he requested "that Doctor Luther be furnished with a 
safe-conduct, so that he might answer for himself before a 
tribunal of learned, pious, and impartial judges." 

The attention of all parties was now directed to the assem- 
bly of the German States which convened at Worms soon 
after the accession of Charles to the empire. There were 
important political questions and interests to be considered 
by this national council ; for the first time the princes of 
Germany were to meet their youthful monarch in deliber- 
ative assembly. From all parts of the Fatherland had come 
the dignitaries of Church and State. Secular lords, high- 
born, powerful, and jealous of their hereditary rights; 
princely ecclesiastics, flushed with their conscious superiority 
in rank and power; courtly knights and their armed re- 
tainers ; and ambassadors from foreign and distant lands — all 

(145) 



146 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

gathered at Worms. Yet in that vast assembly the subject 
that excited the deepest interest, was the cause of the Saxon 
reformer. 

Charles had previously directed the elector to bring Lu- 
ther with him to the Diet, assuring him of protection, and 
promising a free discussion, with competent persons, of the 
questions in dispute. Luther was anxious to appear before 
the emperor. His health was at this time much impaired; 
yet he wrote to the elector: "If I cannot perform the jour- 
ney to Worms in good health, I will be carried there, sick as 
I am. For, since the emperor has summoned me, I cannot 
doubt that it is the call of God himself. If they intend to 
use violence against me, as they probably do, for assuredly 
it is with no view of gaining information that they require me 
to appear before them, I place the matter in the Lord's hands. 
He still lives and reigns who preserved the three Israelites 
in the fiery furnace. If it be not his will to save me, my 
life is of little consequence. Let us only take care that the 
gospel be not exposed to the scorn of the ungodly, and let 
us shed our blood in its defense rather than allow them to 
triumph. Who shall say whether my life or my death 
would contribute most to the salvation of my brethren?" 
"Expect anything from me but flight or recantation. Fly 
I cannot; still less can I recant." 

As the news was circulated at Worms that Luther was to 
appear before the Diet, a general excitement was created. 
Aleander, the papal legate to whom the case had been spe- 
cially intrusted, was alarmed and enraged. He saw that the 
result would be disastrous to the papal cause. To institute 
inquiry into a case in which the pope had already pronounced 
sentence of condemnation, would be to cast contempt upon 
the authority of the sovereign pontiff. Furthermore, he was 
apprehensive that the eloquent and powerful arguments of 
this man might turn away many of the princes from the 
cause of the pope. He therefore, in the most urgent manner, 
remonstrated with Charles against Luther's appearance at 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 147 

Worms. About this time the bull declaring Luther's excom- 
munication was published; and this, coupled with the repre- 
sentations of the legate, induced the emperor to yield. He 
wrote to the elector that if Luther would not retract, he must 
remain at Wittenberg. 

Not content with this victory, Aleander labored with all 
the power and cunning at his command to secure Luther's 
condemnation. With a persistence worthy of a better cause, 
he urged the matter upon the attention of princes, prelates, 
and other members of the assembly, accusing the reformer 
of sedition, rebellion, impiety, and blasphemy. But the 
vehemence and passion manifested by the legate revealed 
too plainly the spirit by which he was actuated. " Hatred 
and thirst for vengeance," said a papist writer, " are his mo- 
tives, rather than true zeal for religion." The majority of 
the Diet were more than ever inclined to regard Luther's 
cause with favor. 

With redoubled zeal, Aleander urged upon the emperor 
the duty of executing the papal edicts. But under the laws 
of Germany this could not be done without the concurrence 
of the princes, and, overcome at last by the legate's importu- 
nity, Charles bade him present his case to the Diet. " It 
was a proud day for the nuncio. The assembly was a great 
one ; the cause was even greater. Aleander was to plead for 
Rome, the mother and mistress of all churches ; he was to 
vindicate the princedom of Peter before the assembled prin- 
cipalities of Christendom. He had the gift of eloquence, 
and he rose to the greatness of the occasion. Providence 
ordered it that Rome should appear and plead by the ablest 
of her orators in the presence of the most august of tri- 
bunals, before she was condemned." With some misgiv- 
ings those who favored the reformer looked forward to the 
effect of Aleander 's speech. The Elector of Saxony was not 
present, but by his direction some of his councillors attended, 
to take notes of the nuncio's address. 

With all the power of learning and eloquence, Aleander 



148 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, 

set himself to overthrow the truth. Charge after charge he 
hurled against Luther as an enemy of the Church and the 
State, the living and the dead, clergy and laity, councils 
and private Christians. "There is enough in the errors of 
Luther," he declared, "to warrant the burning of a hundred 
thousand heretics." 

In conclusion, he endeavored to cast contempt upon the 
adherents of the reformed faith : " What are all these Luther- 
ans? — A motley rabble of insolent grammarians, corrupt 
priests, dissolute monks, ignorant lawyers, and degraded 
nobles, with the common people whom they have misled 
and perverted. How greatly superior is the Catholic party 
in numbers, intelligence, and power! A unanimous decree 
from this illustrious assembly will open the eyes of the 
simple, show the unwary their danger, determine the wa- 
vering, and strengthen the weak-hearted." 

With such weapons the advocates of truth in. every age 
have been attacked. The same arguments are still urged 
against all who dare to present, in opposition to established 
errors, the plain and direct teachings of God's Word. " Who 
are these preachers of new doctrines?" exclaim those who 
desire a popular religion. "They are unlearned, few in 
numbers, and of the poorer class. Yet they claim to have 
the truth, and to be the chosen people of God. They are 
ignorant and deceived. How greatly superior in numbers 
and influence is our church ! How many great and learned 
men are among us ! How much more power is on our side ! " 
These are the arguments that have a telling influence upon 
the world; but they are no more conclusive now than in 
the days of the reformer. 

The Reformation did not, as many suppose, end with 
Luther. It is to be continued to the close of this world's 
history. Luther had a great work to do in reflecting to 
others the light which God had permitted to shine upon 
him; yet he did not receive all the light which was to be 
given to the world. From that time to this, new light has 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 149 



been continually shining upon the Scriptures, and new 
truths have been constantly unfolding. 

The legate's address made a deep impression upon the 
Diet. There was no Luther present, with the clear and con- 
vincing truths of God's Word, to vanquish the papal cham- 
pion. No attempt was made to defend the reformer. There 
was manifest a general disposition not only to condemn him 
and the doctrines which he taught, but if possible to uproot 
the heresy. Rome had enjoyed the most favorable oppor- 
tunity to defend her cause. All that she could say in her 
own vindication had been said. But the apparent victory 
was the signal of defeat. Henceforth the contrast between 
truth and error would be more clearly seen, as they should 
take the field in open warfare. Never from that day would 
Rome stand as secure as she had stood. 

While most of the members of the Diet w T ould not have 
hesitated to yield up Luther to the vengeance of Rome, many 
of them saw and deplored the existing depravity in the 
church, and desired a suppression of the abuses suffered by 
the German people in consequence of the corruption and 
greed of the hierarchy. The legate had presented the papal 
rule in the most favorable light. Now the Lord moved 
upon a member of the Diet to give a true delineation of the 
effects of papal tyranny. With noble firmness, Duke George 
of Saxony stood up in that princely assembly, and specified 
with terrible exactness the deceptions and abominations of 
popery, and their dire results. In closing he said : — 

"These are but a few of the abuses which cry out against 
Rome for redress. All shame is laid aside, and one object 
alone incessantly pursued : money ! evermore money ! so that 
the very men whose duty it is to teach the truth, utter noth- 
ing but falsehoods, and are not only tolerated but rewarded; 
because the greater their lies, the greater are their gains. 
This is the foul source from which so many corrupt streams 
flow out on every side. Profligacy and avarice go hand in 
hand." "Alas! it is the scandal caused by the clergy that 



150 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

plunges so many poor souls into everlasting perdition. A 
thorough reform must be effected." 

A more able and forcible denunciation of the papal abuses 
could not have been presented by Luther himself; and the 
fact that the speaker was a determined enemy of the re- 
former, gave greater influence to his words. 

Had the eyes of the assembly been opened, they would 
have beheld angels of God in the midst of them, shedding 
beams of light athwart the darkness of error, and opening 
minds and hearts to the reception of truth. It was the 
power of the God of truth and wisdom that controlled even 
the adversaries of the Reformation, and thus prepared the 
way for the great work about to be accomplished. Martin 
Luther was not present; but the voice of One greater than 
Luther had been heard in that assembly. 

A committee was at once appointed by the Diet to prepare 
an enumeration of the papal oppressions that weighed so 
heavily on the German people. This list, containing a 
hundred and one specifications, was presented to the emperor, 
with a request that he would take immediate measures for 
the correction of these abuses. "What a loss of Christian 
souls," said the petitioners, "what injustice, what extortion, 
are the daily fruits of those scandalous practices to which 
the spiritual head of Christendom affords his countenance. 
The ruin and dishonor of our nation must be averted. We 
therefore very humbly, but very urgently, beseech you to 
sanction a general Reformation, to undertake the work, and 
to carry it through." 

The council now demanded the reformer's appearance 
before them. Notwithstanding the entreaties, protests, and 
threats of Aleander, the emperor at last consented, and 
Luther was summoned to appear before the Diet. With the 
summons was issued a safe-conduct, insuring his return to a 
place of security. These were borne to Wittenberg by a 
herald, who was commissioned to conduct him to Worms. 

The friends of Luther were terrified and distressed. 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 151 



Knowing the prejudice and enmity against him, they 
feared that even his safe-conduct would not be respected, 
and they entreated him not to imperil his life. He replied: 
"The papists have little desire to see me at Worms, but they 
long for my condemnation and death. It matters not. 
Pray not for me, hut for the Word of God. . . . Christ 
will give me his Spirit to overcome these ministers of Satan. 
I despise them while I live; I will triumph over them by 
my death. They are busy at Worms about compelling me 
to recant. My recantation shall be this: I said formerly 
that the pope was Christ's vicar; now I say that he is the 
adversary of the Lord, and the apostle of the devil." 

Luther was not to make his perilous journey alone. Be- 
sides the imperial messenger, three of his firmest friends 
determined to accompany him. Melancthon earnestly de- 
sired to join them. His heart was knit to Luther's, and he 
yearned to follow him, if need be, to prison or to death. 
But his entreaties were denied. Should Luther perish, the 
hopes of the Reformation must center upon his youthful 
co-laborer. Said the reformer as he parted from Melancthon, 
"If I do not return, and my enemies put me to death, con- 
tinue to teach; stand fast in the truth. Labor in my stead; 
. . . if thy life be spared, my death will matter little." 
Students and citizens who had gathered to witness Luther's 
departure were deeply moA^ed. A multitude whose hearts 
had been touched by the gospel, bade him farewell with 
weeping. Thus the reformer and his companions set out 
from Wittenberg. 

On the journey they saw that the minds of the people 
were oppressed by gloomy forebodings. At some towns no 
honors were proffered them. As they stopped for the night, 
a friendly priest expressed his fears by holding up before 
Luther the portrait of an Italian reformer who had suffered 
martyrdom. The next day they learned that Luther's writ- 
ings had been condemned at Worms. Imperial messengers 
were proclaiming the emperor's decree, and calling upon 



152 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

the people to bring the proscribed works to the magistrates. 
The herald, fearing for Luther's safety at the council, and 
thinking that already his resolution might be shaken, asked 
if he still wished to go forward. He answered, " I will go on, 
though I should be put under interdict in every town." 

At Erfurt, Luther was received with honor. Surrounded 
by admiring crowds, he passed through the streets that he 
had often traversed with his beggar's wallet. He visited his 
convent cell, and thought upon the struggles through which 
the light now flooding Germany had been shed upon his 
soul. He was urged to preach. This he had been forbidden 
to do, but the herald granted him permission, and the friar 
who had once been made the drudge of the convent, now 
entered the pulpit. 

To a crowded assembly he spoke from the words of Christ, 
"Peace be unto you." "Philosophers, doctors, and writers," 
he said, " have endeavored to' teach men the way to obtain 
everlasting life, and they have not succeeded. I will now 
tell it to you." "God has raised one Man from the dead, the 
Lord Jesus Christ, that he might destroy death, expiate sin, 
and shut the gates of hell. This is the work of salvation. 
Christ has vanquished! This is the joyful, news! And we 
are saved by his work, and not by our own. . . . Our 
Lord Jesus Christ said, < Peace be unto you! behold my 
hands' — that is to say, B ehold, Q man ! it is I, I alone, who 
have takeiiaway thy sins, and ransomed thee; and no w 
thou ha st peace, saith the Lord ." 

He continued, showing that true faith will be manifested 
by a holy life. " Since God has saved us, let us so order our 
works that he may take pleasure in them. Art thou rich? 
— let thy riches be the supply of other men's poverty. Art 
thou poor? — let thy service minister to the rich. If thy 
labor is for thyself alone, the service thou oflferest to God is 
a mere pretense." 

The people listened as if spell-bound. The bread of life 
was broken to those starving souls. Christ was lifted up 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 153 

before them as above popes, legates, emperors, and kings. 
Luther made no reference to bis own perilous position. He 
did not seek to make himself the object of thought or sym- 
pathy. In the contemplation of Christ, he had lost sight of 
self. He hid behind the Man of Calvary, seeking only to 
present Jesus as the sinner's Redeemer. 
n( As the reformer proceeded on his journey, he was every- 
where regarded with great interest. An eager multitude 
thronged about him ; and friendly voices warned him of the 
purpose of the Romanists. " You will be burned alive," said 
they, " and your body reduced to ashes, as was that of John 
Huss." Luther answered, "Though they should kindle a 
fire all the way from Worms to Wittenberg, whose flames 
should rise up to heaven, I w T ould go through it in the name 
of the Lord, and stand before them; I would enter the jaws 
of this behemoth, and break his teeth, confessing the Lord 
Jesus Christ." 

The news of his approach to Worms created great com- 
motion. His friends trembled for his safety; his enemies 
feared for the success of their cause. Strenuous efforts were 
made to dissuade him from entering the city. At the insti- 
gation of the papists he was urged to repair to the castle of 
a friendly knight, where, it was declared, all difficulties could 
be amicably adjusted. Friends endeavored to excite his 
fears by describing the dangers that threatened him. All 
their efforts failed. Luther, still unshaken, declared, " Though 
there should be as many devils at Worms as there are tiles 
on its roofs, I would enter." 

L T pon his arrival at Worms, a vast crowd flocked to the 
gates to welcome him. So great a concourse had not as- 
sembled to greet the emperor himself. The excitement was 
intense, and from the midst of the throng a shrill and plaint- 
ive voice chanted a funeral dirge, as a warning to Luther of 
the fate that awaited him. " God will be my defense," said 
he, as he alighted from his carriage. 

The papists had not believed that Luther would really 



154 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



venture to appear at Worms, and his arrival filled them 
with consternation. The emperor immediately summoned 
his councillors to consider what course should be pursued. 
One of the bishops, a rigid papist, declared : " We have long 
consulted on this matter. Let your majesty rid yourself of 
this man at once. Did not Sigismund bring John Huss to 
the stake? We are under no obligation either to give or to 
observe the safe-conduct of a heretic." " Not so," said the 
emperor; "we must keep our promise." It was therefore 
decided that the reformer should be heard. 

All the city were eager to see this remarkable man, and 
a throng of visitors soon filled his lodgings. Luther had 
scarcely recovered from his recent illness; he was wearied 
from the journey, which had occupied two full weeks; he 
must prepare to meet the momentous events of the morrow, 
and he needed quiet and repose. But so great was the 
desire to see him, that he had enjoyed only a few hours' 
rest, when noblemen, knights, priests, and citizens gathered 
eagerly about him. Among these were many of the nobles 
who had so boldly demanded of the emperor a reform of 
ecclesiastical abuses, and who, says Luther, " had all been 
freed by my gospel." Enemies, as well as friends, came to 
look upon the dauntless monk, but he received them with 
unshaken calmness, replying to all with dignity and wisdom. 
His bearing was firm and courageous. His pale, thin face, 
marked with the traces of toil and illness, wore a kindly 
and even joyous expression. The solemnity and deep ear- 
nestness of his words gave him a power that even his ene- 
mies could not wholly withstand. Both friends and foes 
were filled with wonder. Some were convinced that a divine 
influence attended him; others declared, as had the Phari- 
sees concerning Christ, " He hath a devil." 

On the following day, Luther was summoned to attend 
the Diet. An imperial officer was appointed to conduct him 
to the hall of audience; yet it was with difficulty that he 
reached the place. Every avenue was crowded with spec- 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 155 



tators, eager to look upon the monk who had dared resist 
the authority of the pope. 

As he was about to enter the presence of his judges, an 
old general, the hero of many battles, said to him kindly, 
" Poor monk ! poor monk ! thou hast a march and a struggle 
to go through, such as neither I nor many other captains 
have ever known in our most bloody battles. But if thy 
cause be just, and thou art sure of it, go forward in God's 
name, and fear nothing! He will not forsake thee." 

At length Luther stood before the council. The emperor 
occupied the throne. He was surrounded by the most illus- 
trious personages in the empire. Never had any man ap- 
peared in the presence of a more imposing assembly than 
that before which Martin Luther w T as to answer for his faith. 
"This appearance w T as of itself a signal victory over the 
papacy. The pope had condemned the man, and he was 
now standing before a tribunal which, by this very act, set 
itself above the pope. The pope had laid him under an 
interdict, and cut him off from all human society, and yet 
he was summoned in respectful language, and received 
before the most august assembly in the world. The pope 
had condemned him to perpetual silence, and he was now 
about to speak before thousands of attentive hearers drawn 
together from the furthest parts of Christendom. An immense 
revolution had thus been effected by Luther's instrumen- 
tality. Rome was already descending from her throne, and 
it was the voice of a monk that caused this humiliation." 

In the presence of that powerful and titled assembly, the 
lowly-born reformer seemed awed and embarrassed. Sev- 
eral of the princes, observing his emotion, approached him, 
and one of them whispered, " Fear not them which kill the 
body, but are not able to kill the soul." Another said, 
"When ye shall be brought before governors and kings for 
My sake, it shall be given you, by the Spirit of your Father, 
what ye shall say." Thus the words of Christ w r ere brought 
by the world's great men to strengthen his servant in the 
hour of trial. 



156 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Luther was conducted to a position directly in front of 
the emperor's throne. A deep silence fell upon the crowded 
assembly. Then an imperial officer arose, and, pointing to 
a collection of Luther's writings, demanded that the reformer 
answer two questions, — whether he acknowledged them as 
his, and whether he proposed to retract the opinions which 
he had therein advanced. The titles of the books having 
been read, Luther replied that as to the first question, he 
acknowledged the books to be his. "As to the second," he 
said, " seeing it is a question, which concerns faith, the sal- 
vation of souls, and the Word of God, which is the greatest 
and most precious treasure either in Heaven or earth, it 
would be rash and perilous for me to reply without reflec- 
tion. I might affirm less than the circumstances demand, 
or more than truth requires; in either case I should fall 
under the sentence of Christ: ' Whosoever shall deny me 
before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is 
in Heaven.' 1 For this reason I entreat your imperial 
majesty, with all humility, to allow me time, that I may 
answer without offending against the Word of God." 

In making this request, Luther moved wisely. His course 
convinced the assembly that he did not act from passion or 
impulse. Such calmness and self-command, unexpected in 
one who had shown himself bold and uncompromising, 
added to his power, and enabled him afterward to answer 
with a prudence, decision, wisdom, and dignity, that sur- 
prised and disappointed his adversaries, and rebuked their 
insolence and pride. 

The next day he was to appear to render his final answer. 
For a time his heart sunk within him as he contemplated 
the forces that were combined against the truth. His faith 
faltered ; fearfulness and trembling came upon him, and 
horror overwhelmed him. Dangers multiplied before him, 
his enemies seemed about to triumph, and the powers of 
darkness to prevail. Clouds gathered about him, and seemed 
to separate him from God. He longed for the assurance 

x Matt. 10:33. 



LUTHER BEFORE TEE DIET. 157 

that the Lord of hosts would be with him. In anguish of 
spirit he threw himself with his face upon the earth, and 
poured out those broken, heart-rending cries, which none 
but God can fully understand. 

"0 God," he pleaded, " Almighty God everlasting ! How 
dreadful is the world! Behold how it opens its mouth to 
swallow me up, and how small is my faith in thee! ... If 
I am to depend upon any strength of this world — all is 
over. . . . The knell is struck. . . . Sentence is 
gone forth. ... . thou my God! help me against all 
the wisdom of this world. Do this, I beseech thee . . . 
by thine own mighty power. . . . The work is not mine, 
but thine. I have no business here. ... I have nothing 
to contend for with the great men of the world. . . . But 
the cause is thine, . . . and it is righteous and everlasting. 
. . . faithful and unchangeable God ! I lean not upon 
man. . . . Whatever is from man is tottering, whatever 
proceeds from him must fall. . . . Thou hast chosen me 
for this work. . . . Therefore, O God, accomplish thine 
own will; forsake me not, for the sake of thy well-beloved 
Son, Jesus Christ, my defense, my buckler, and my strong- 
hold." 

An all-wise Providence had permitted Luther to realize his 
peril, that he might not trust to his own strength, and rush 
presumptuously into danger. Yet it was not the fear of per- 
sonal suffering, a dread of torture or death, which seemed 
immediately impending, that overwhelmed him with its ter- 
ror. He had come to the crisis, and he felt his insufficiency 
to meet it. Through his weakness the cause of truth might 
suffer loss. Not for his own safety, but for the triumph of 
the gospel, did he wrestle with God. Like Israel's, in that 
night struggle beside the lonely stream, was the anguish and 
conflict of his soul. Like Israel, he prevailed with God. In 
his utter helplessness his faith fastened upon Christ, the 
mighty deliverer. He was strengthened with the assurance 
that he would not appear alone before the council. Peace 



158 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

returned to his soul, and he rejoiced that he was permitted 
to uplift the Word of God before the rulers of the nation. 

With his mind stayed upon God, Luther prepared for the 
struggle before him. He thought upon the plan of his an- 
swer, examined passages in his own writings, and drew from 
the Holy Scriptures suitable proofs to sustain his positions. 
Then, laying his left hand on the sacred volume, which was 
open before him, he lifted his right hand to heaven, and 
vowed "to adhere constantly to the gospel, and to confess his 
faith freely, even though he should be called to seal his tes- 
timony with his blood." 

When he was again ushered into the presence of the Diet, 
his countenance bore no trace of fear or embarrassment. 
Calm and peaceful, yet grandly brave and noble, he stood 
as God's witness among the great ones of the earth. The 
imperial officer now demanded his decision as to whether 
he desired to retract his doctrines. Luther made his an- 
swer in a subdued and humble tone, without violence or 
passion. His demeanor was diffident and respectful ; yet he 
manifested a confidence and joy that surprised the assembly. 

"Most serene emperor, illustrious princes, most clement 
lords," said Luther, " I this day appear before you in all hu- 
mility, according to your command ; and I implore your 
majesty, and your august highnesses, by the mercies of God, 
to listen with favor to the defense of a cause which I am 
well assured is just and right. If in my reply I do not use 
the just ceremonial of a court, pardon me, for I am not 
familiar with its usages. I am but a poor monk, a child of 
the cell, and I have labored only for the glory of God." 

Then, proceeding to the question, he stated that his pub- 
lished works were not all of the same character. In some 
he had treated of faith and good works, and even his ene- 
mies declared them not only harmless but profitable. To 
retract these would be to condemn truths which all parties 
confessed. The second class consisted of writings exposing 
the corruptions and abuses of the papacy. To revoke these 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 150 



works would strengthen the tyranny of Rome, and open a 
wider door to many and great impieties. In the third class 
of his books he had attacked individuals who had defended 
existing evils. Concerning these he freely confessed that he 
had been more violent than was becoming. He did not 
claim to be free from fault; but even these books he could 
not revoke, for such a course would embolden the enemies 
of truth, and they would then take occasion to crush God's 
people with still greater cruelty. 

"But as I am a mere man, and not God," he continued, 
" I will defend myself as did Christ, who said, ' If I have 
spoken evil, bear witness of the evil.' By the mercy of God, 
I implore your imperial majesty, or any one else who 
can, whoever he may be, to prove to me from the writ- 
ings of the prophets and apostles that I am in error. As 
soon as I shall be convinced, I will instantly retract all my 
errors, and will be the first to cast my books into the fire. 
What I have just said, will show that I have considered 
and weighed the dangers to which I am exposing myself; 
but far from being dismayed by them, I rejoice exceedingly 
to see the gospel this day, as of old, a cause of trouble and 
dissension. This is the character, the destiny, of God's 
Word. Said Christ, ' I came not to send peace, but a sword.' 1 
God is wonderful and terrible in his counsels. Let us have 
a care lest in our endeavors to arrest discords we be found to 
fight against the holy Word of God, and bring down upon 
our heads a frightful deluge of inextricable dangers, pres- 
ent disaster, and everlasting desolation. ... I might 
cite examples drawn from the oracles of God. I might 
speak of Pharaohs, of kings of Babylon, or of Israel, who 
were never more contributing to their own ruin than when, 
by measures in appearance most prudent, they thought to 
establish their authority. God ' removeth the mountains, and 
they know not.'" 2 

Luther had spoken in German; he was now requested to 

1 Matt. 10:34. ^JobU:5. 



160 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



repeat the same words in Latin. Though exhausted by the 
previous effort, he complied, and again delivered his speech, 
with the same clearness and energy as at the first. God's 
providence directed in this matter. The minds of many of 
the princes were so blinded by error and superstition that 
at the first delivery they did not see the force of Luther's 
reasoning; but the repetition enabled them to perceive clearly 
the points presented. 

Those who stubbornly closed their eyes to the light, and 
determined not to be convinced of the truth, were enraged 
at the power of Luther's words. As he ceased speaking, 
the spokesman of the Diet said angrily, "You have not an- 
swered the question. A clear and express reply is demanded. 
Will you or will you not retract?" 

The reformer answered: "Since your most serene majesty 
and the princes require a simple, clear, and direct answer, I 
will give one, and it is this : I cannot submit my faith either to 
the pope or to the councils, because it is as clear as noonday 
that they have often fallen into error, and even into glaring 
inconsistency with themselves. If, then, I am not convinced 
by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons; if I am 
not satisfied by the very texts that I have cited, and if my 
judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God's 
Word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot 
be right for a Christian to speak against his conscience. 
Here I take my stand ; I cannot do otherwise. God be my 
help! Amen." 

Thus stood this righteous man, upon the sure foundation 
of the Word of God. The light of Heaven illuminated 
his countenance. His greatness and purity of character, his 
peace and joy of heart, were manifest to all as he testified 
against the power of error, and witnessed to the superiority 
of that faith that overcomes the world. 

The whole assembly were for a time speechless with 
amazement. At his first answer, Luther had spoken in a 
low tone, with a respectful, almost submissive bearing. The 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. lfil 

Romanists had interpreted this as evidence that his courage 
was beginning to fail. They regarded the request for delay 
as merely the prelude to his recantation. Charles himself, 
noting, half contemptuously, the monk's worn frame, his 
plain attire, and the simplicity of his address, had declared, 
" This man will never make a heretic of me." The courage 
and firmness which he now displayed, as well as the power 
and clearness of his reasoning, filled all parties with sur- 
prise. The emperor, moved to admiration, exclaimed, " The 
monk speaks with intrepid heart and unshaken courage." 
Many of the German princes looked with pride and joy 
upon this representative of their nation. 

The partisans of Rome had been worsted; their cause 
appeared in a most unfavorable light, They sought to 
maintain their power, not by appealing to the Scriptures, 
but by a resort to threats, Rome's unfailing argument. 
Said the spokesman of the Diet, " If you do not retract, the 
emperor and the States of the empire will proceed to con- 
sider how to deal with an obstinate heretic." 

Luther's friends, who had with great joy listened to his 
noble defense, trembled at these words; but the doctor him- 
self said calmly, " May God be my helper ! for I can retract 
nothing." 

He was directed to withdraw from the Diet, while the 
princes consulted together. It was felt that a great crisis 
had come. Luther's persistent refusal to submit, might 
affect the history of the church for ages. It was decided to 
give him one more opportunity to retract, For the last 
time he was brought into the assembly. Again the question 
was put, whether he would renounce his doctrines. " I have 
no other answer to give," he said, "than I have already 
given." It was evident that he could not be induced, either 
by promises or threats, to yield to the mandate of Rome. 

The papist leaders were chagrined that their power, which 
had caused kings and nobles to tremble, should be thus 
despised by a humble monk ; they longed to make him feel 



162 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

their wrath by torturing his life away. But Luther, under- 
standing his danger, had spoken to all with Christian dig- 
nity and calmness. His words had been free from pride, 
passion, and misrepresentation. He had lost sight of him- 
self, and of the great men surrounding him, and felt only 
that he was in the presence of One infinitely superior to 
popes, prelates, kings, and emperors. Christ had spoken 
through Luther's testimony with a power and grandeur that 
for the time inspired both friends and foes with awe and 
wonder. The Spirit of God had been present in that council, 
impressing the hearts of the chiefs of the empire. Several 
of the princes boldly acknowledged the justice of Luther's 
cause. Many were convinced of the truth ; but with some the 
impressions received were not lasting. There was another 
class w T ho did not at the time express their convictions, but 
who, having searched the Scriptures for themselves, at a 
future time became fearless supporters of the Reformation. 

The elector Frederick had looked forward anxiously to 
Luther's appearance before the Diet, and with deep emotion 
he listened to his speech. With joy and pride he witnessed 
the doctor's courage, firmness, and self-possession, and deter- 
mined to stand more firmly in his defense. He contrasted 
the parties in contest, and saw that the wisdom of popes, 
kings, and prelates had been brought to naught by the 
power of truth. The papacy had sustained a defeat which 
would be felt among all nations and in all ages. 

As the legate perceived the effect produced by Luther's 
speech, he feared, as never before, for the security of the 
Romish power, and resolved to employ every means at his 
command to effect the reformer's overthrow. With all the 
eloquence and diplomatic skill for which he was so emi- 
nently distinguished, he represented to the youthful emperor 
the folly and danger of sacrificing, in the cause of an insig- 
nificant monk, the friendship and support of the powerful 
see of Rome. 

His words were not without effect. On the day following 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 163 

Luther's answer, Charles caused a message to be presented 
to the Diet, announcing his determination to carry out the 
policy of his predecessors to maintain and protect the Cath- 
olic religion. Since Luther had refused to renounce his 
errors, the most vigorous measures should be employed 
against him and the heresies he taught. "A single monk, 
led astray by his own madness, erects himself against the 
faith of Christendom. I will sacrifice my kingdoms, my 
power, my friends, my treasure, my body and blood, my 
thoughts, and my life, to stay the further progress of this 
impiety. I am about to dismiss the Augustine Luther, for- 
bidding him to cause the least disturbance among the peo- 
ple. I will then take measures against him and his adher- 
ents, as open heretics, by excommunication, interdict, and 
every means necessary to their destruction. I call on the 
members of the States to comport themselves like faithful 
Christians." Nevertheless the emperor declared that Lu- 
ther's safe-conduct must be respected, and that before proceed- 
ings against him could be instituted, he must be allowed to 
reach his home in safety. 

Two conflicting opinions were now urged by the members 
of the Diet. The emissaries and representatives of the pope 
again demanded that the reformer's safe-conduct should be 
disregarded. "The Rhine," they said, "should receive his 
ashes, as it received those of John Huss a century ago." But 
princes of Germany, though themselves papists and avowed 
enemies to Luther, protested against such a breach of public 
faith, as a stain upon the honor of the nation. They pointed 
to the calamities which had followed the death of Huss, 
and declared that they dared not call down upon Germany, 
and upon the head of their youthful emperor, a repetition 
of these terrible evils. 

Charles himself, in answer to the base proposal, said that 
though faith should be banished from all the earth, it ought 
to find refuge with princes. He was still further urged by 
the most bitter of Luther's popish enemies to deal with the 



164 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



reformer as Sigismund had dealt with Huss — abandon him 
to the mercies of the church; but, recalling the scene when 
Huss in public assembly had pointed to his chains and 
reminded the monarch of his plighted faith, Charles V. 
declared, " I would not like to blush like Sigismund." 

Yet Charles had deliberately rejected the truths presented 
by Luther. " I am firmly resolved to tread in the footsteps 
of my ancestors," wrote the monarch. He had decided that 
he would not step out of the path of custom, even to walk in 
the ways of truth and righteousness. Because his fathers 
did, he would uphold the papacy, with all its cruelty and 
corruption. Thus he took his position, refusing to accept 
any light in advance of what his fathers had received, or 
to perform any duty that they had not performed. 

There are many at the present day thus clinging to the 
customs and traditions of their fathers. When the Lord 
sends them additional light, they refuse to accept it, because, 
not having been granted to their fathers, it was not received 
by them. We are not placed where our fathers were; con- 
sequently our duties and responsibilities are not the same 
as theirs. We shall not be approved of God in looking to 
the example of our fathers to determine our duty instead of 
searching the Word of truth for ourselves. Our responsi- 
bility is greater than was that of our ancestors. We are 
accountable for the light which they received, and which 
was handed down as an inheritance for us, and we are ac- 
countable also for the additional light which is now shining 
upon us from the Word of God. 

Said Christ of the unbelieving Jews, " If I had not come 
and spoken unto them, they had not had sin ; but now they 
have no cloak for their sin." x The same divine power had 
spoken through Luther to the emperor and princes of Ger- 
many. And as the light shone forth from God's Word, his 
Spirit pleaded for the last time with many in that assembly. 
As Pilate, centuries before, permitted pride and popularity 
to close his heart against the world's Redeemer; as the 

1 John 15:22. 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 165 



trembling Felix bade the messenger of truth, "Go thy way 
for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call 
for thee;" 1 as the proud Agrippa confessed, " Almost thou 
persuadest me to be a Christian," 2 yet turned away from the 
Heaven-sent message, — so had Charles V., yielding to the 
dictates of worldly pride and policy, decided to reject the 
light of truth. 

Rumors of the designs against Luther were widely circu- 
lated, causing great excitement throughout the city. The 
reformer had made many friends, who, knowing the treach- 
erous cruelty of Rome toward all that dared expose her cor- 
ruptions, resolved that he should not be sacrificed. Hundreds 
of nobles pledged themselves to protect him. Not a few 
openly denounced the royal message as evincing a weak 
submission to the controlling power of Rome. On the gates 
of houses and in public places, placards were posted, some 
condemning and others sustaining Luther. On one of these 
were written merely the significant words of the wise man, 
"Woe to thee, land, when thy king is a child." 3 The pop- 
ular enthusiasm in Luther's favor throughout all Germany 
convinced both the emperor and the Diet that any injustice 
shown him would endanger the peace of the empire, and 
even the stability of the throne. 

Frederick of Saxony maintained a studied reserve, care- 
fully concealing his real feelings toward the reformer, while 
at the same time he guarded him with tireless vigilance, 
watching all his movements and all those of his enemies. 
But there were many who made no attempt to conceal 
their sympathy with Luther. He was visited by princes, 
counts, barons, and other persons of distinction, both lay 
and ecclesiastical. " The doctor's little room," wrote Spalatin, 
" could not contain all who presented themselves." The peo- 
ple gazed upon him as if he were more than human. Even 
those who had no faith in his doctrines, could not but admire 
that lofty integrity which led him to brave death rather 
than violate his conscience. 

^(^24:25. 2 Act326:28. - Eccl. 10:16. 



166 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Earnest efforts were made to obtain Luther's consent to a 
compromise with Rome. Nobles and princes represented to 
him that if he persisted in setting up his own judgment 
against that of the church and the councils, he would soon 
be banished from the empire, and then would have no de- 
fense. To this appeal Luther answered : " It is impossible 
to preach the gospel of Christ without offense. Why, then, 
should the fear of danger separate me from the Lord and 
that divine Word which alone is truth ? No ; I would rather 
give up my body, my blood, and my life." 

Again he was urged to submit to the judgment of the 
emperor, and then he would have nothing to fear. " I con- 
sent," said he in reply, " with all my heart, that the emperor, 
the princes, and even the humblest Christian, should exam- 
ine and judge my writings; but on one condition, that they 
take God's Word for their guide. Men have nothing to do 
but to render obedience to that. My conscience is in de- 
pendence upon that Word, and I am the bounden subject of 
its authority." 

To another appeal he said, " I consent to forego my safe- 
conduct, and resign my person and my life to the emperor's 
disposal ; but as to the Word of God — never ! " He stated 
his willingness to submit to the decision 'of a general coun- 
cil, but only on condition that the council be required to 
decide according to the Scriptures. " In what concerns the 
Word of God and the faith," he added, "every Christian is 
as good a judge as the pope, though supported by a million 
councils, can be for him." Both friends and foes were at last 
convinced that further effort for reconciliation would be 
useless. 

Had the reformer yielded a single point, Satan and his 
hosts would have gained the victory. But his unwavering 
firmness was the means of emancipating the church, and 
beginning a new and better era. The influence of this one 
man, wdio dared to think and act for himself in religious 
matters, was to affect the church and the world, not only in 



LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 1G7 

his own time, but in all future generations. His firmness 
and fidelity would strengthen all, to the close of time, who 
should pass through a similar experience. The power and 
majesty of God stood forth above the counsel of men, above 
the mighty power of Satan. 

Luther was soon commanded by the authority of the em- 
peror to return home, and he knew that this notice would be 
speedily followed by his condemnation. Threatening clouds 
overhung his path; but as he departed from Worms, his 
heart was filled with joy and praise. "Satan himself," said 
he, " kept the pope's citadel ; but Christ has made a wide 
breach in it, and the devil has been compelled to confess that 
Christ is mightier than he." 

After his departure, still desirous that his firmness should 
not be mistaken for rebellion, Luther wrote to the em- 
peror. " God is my witness, who knoweth the thoughts," he 
said, "that I am ready with all my heart to obey your 
majesty through good or evil report, in life or in death, with 
no one exception, save the Word of God, by which man 
liveth. In all the affairs of this life my fidelity shall be 
unshaken; for, in these, loss or gain has nothing to do with 
salvation. But it is contrary to the will of God, that man 
should be subject to man in that which pertains to eternal 
life. Subjection in spirituals is a real worship, and should 
be rendered only to the Creator." 

On the journey from Worms, Luther's reception was even 
more flattering than during his progress thither. Princely 
ecclesiastics welcomed the excommunicated monk, and civil 
rulers honored the man whom the emperor had denounced. 
He was urged to preach, and, notwithstanding the imperial 
prohibition, he again entered the pulpit. "I have never 
pledged myself to chain up the Word of God," he said, " nor 
will I." 

He had not been long absent from AVorms, when the 
papists prevailed upon the emperor to issue an edict against 
him. In this decree Luther was denounced as "Satan him- 



168 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



self under the semblance of a man in a monk's hood." It 
was commanded that as soon as his safe-conduct should ex- 
pire, measures be taken to stop his work. All persons were 
forbidden to harbor him, to give him food or drink, or by 
word or act, in public or private, to aid or abet him. He was 
to be seized wherever he might be, and delivered to the 
authorities. His adherents also were to be imprisoned, and 
their property confiscated. His writings were to be destroyed, 
and finally, all who should dare to act contrary to this 
decree were included in its condemnation. The Elector of 
Saxony, and the princes most friendly to Luther, had left 
Worms soon after his departure, and the emperor's decree 
received the sanction of the Diet. Now the Romanists were 
jubilant. They considered the fate of the Reformation sealed. 

God had provided a way of escape for his servant in this 
hour of peril. A vigilant eye had followed Luther's move- 
ments, and a true and noble heart had resolved upon his 
rescue. It was plain that Rome would be satisfied with 
nothing short of his death ; only by concealment could he 
be preserved from the jaws of the lion. God gave wisdom 
to Frederick of Saxony to devise a plan for the reformer's 
preservation. With the co-operation of true friends, the 
elector's purpose was carried out, and Luther was effectually 
hidden from friends and foes. Upon his homeward journey, 
he was seized, separated from his attendants, and hurriedly 
conveyed through the forest to the castle of Wartburg, an 
isolated mountain fortress. Both his seizure and his con- 
cealment were so involved in mystery that even Frederick 
himself for a long time knew not whither he had been con- 
ducted. This ignorance was not without design; so long as 
the* elector knew nothing of Luther's whereabouts, he could 
reveal nothing. He satisfied himself that the reformer was 
safe, and with this knowledge he was content. 

Spring, summer, and autumn passed, and winter came, 
and Luther still remained a prisoner. Aleander and his 
partisans exulted as the light of the gospel seemed about 



LUTTTEH BEFORE THE DIET. 169 



to be extinguished. But instead of this, the reformer was 
filling his lamp from the store-house of truth; and its light 
was to shine forth with brighter radiance. 

In the friendly security of the Wartburg, Luther for a 
time rejoiced in his release from the heat and turmoil of 
battle. But he could not long find satisfaction in quiet and 
repose. Accustomed to a life of activity and stern conflict, 
he could ill endure to remain inactive. In those solitary 
days, the condition of the church rose up before him, and 
he cried in despair, " Alas ! there is no one, in this latter day 
of His anger, to stand like a wall before the Lord, and save 
Israel ! " Again, his thoughts returned to himself, and he 
feared being charged with cowardice in withdrawing from 
the contest. Then he reproached himself for his indolence 
and self-indulgence. Yet at the same time he was daily ac- 
complishing more than it seemed possible for one man to do. 
His pen was never idle. While his enemies flattered them- 
selves that he was silenced, they were astonished and con- 
fused by tangible proof that he was still active. A host of 
tracts, issuing from his pen, circulated throughout Germany. 
He also performed a most important service for his coun- 
trymen by translating the New Testament into the German 
tongue. From his rocky Patmos he continued for nearly a 
whole year to proclaim the gospel, and rebuke the sins and 
errors of the times. 

But it was not merely to preserve Luther from the wrath 
of his enemies, nor even to afford him a season of quiet for 
these important labors, that God had withdrawn his servant 
from the stage of public life. There were results more pre- 
cious than these to be secured. In the solitude and ob- 
scurity of his mountain retreat, Luther was removed from 
earthly supports, and shut out from human praise. He was 
thus saved from the pride and self-confidence that are so 
often caused by success. By suffering and humiliation he 
was prepared again to walk safely upon the dizzy heights to 
which he had been so suddenly exalted. 



170 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

As men rejoice in the freedom which the truth brings 
them, they are inclined to extol those whom God has em- 
ployed to break the chains of error and superstition. Satan 
seeks to divert men's thoughts and affections from God, and 
to fix them upon human agencies; he leads them to honor the 
mere instrument, and to ignore the Hand that directs all the 
events of providence. Too often, religious leaders who are 
thus praised and reverenced lose sight of their dependence 
upon God, and are led to trust in themselves. As a result, 
they seek to control the minds and consciences of the peo- 
ple, who are disposed to look to them for guidance instead 
of looking to the Word of God. The work of reform is often 
retarded because of this spirit indulged by its supporters. 
From this danger, God would guard the cause of the Ref- 
ormation. He desired that work to receive, not the impress 
of man, but that of God. The eyes of men had been turned to 
Luther as the expounder of the truth ; he was removed that 
all eyes might be directed to the eternal Author of truth. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE SWISS REFORMER. 

In the choice of instrumentalities for the reforming of the 
church, the same divine plan is seen as in that for the plant- 
ing of the church. The heavenly Teacher passed by the 
great men of earth, the titled and wealthy, who were accus- 
tomed to receive praise and homage as leaders of the people. 
They were so proud and self-confident in their boasted supe- 
riority that they could not be moulded to sympathize with 
their fellow-men, and to become co-laborers with the humble 
Man of Nazareth. To the unlearned, toiling fishermen of 
Galilee was the calhaddressed, " Follow me, and I will make 
you fishers of men." 1 These disciples were humble and 
teachable. The less they had been influenced by the false 
teaching of their time, the more successfully could Christ 
instruct and train them for his service. So in the days of 
the Great Reformation. The leading reformers were men 
from humble life, — men who were most free of any of their 
time from pride of rank, and from the influence of bigotry 
and priestcraft. It is God's plan to employ humble instru- 
ments to accomplish great results. Then the glory will not 
be given to men, but to Him who works through them to 
will and to do of his own good pleasure. 

A few weeks after the birth of Luther in a miner's cabin 
in Saxony, Ulric Zwingle was born in a herdsman's cottage 
among the Alps. Zwingle's surroundings in childhood, and 
his early training, were such as to prepare him for his future 
mission. Reared amid scenes of natural grandeur, beauty, 
and awful sublimity, his mind was early impressed with a 
sense of the greatness, the power, and the majesty of God. 

14 1 Matt. 4:19. (171) 



172 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



The history of the brave deeds achieved upon his native 
mountains, kindled his youthful aspirations. And at the 
side of his pious grandmother he listened to the few precious 
Bible stories which she had gleaned from amid the legends 
and traditions of the church. With eager interest he heard 
of the grand deeds of patriarchs and prophets, of the shep- 
herds who watched their flocks on the hills of Palestine 
where angels talked with them, of the Babe of Bethlehem 
and the Man of Calvary. 

Like John Luther, Zwingle's father desired an education 
for his son, and the boy was early sent from his native val- 
ley. His mind rapidly developed, and it soon became a 
question where to find teachers competent to instruct him. 
At the age of thirteen he went to Bern, which then possessed 
the most distinguished school in Switzerland. Here, how- 
ever, a danger arose which threatened to blight the promise 
of his life. Determined efforts were put forth by the friars 
to allure him into a monastery. The Dominican and Fran- 
ciscan monks were in rivalry for popular favor. This they 
endeavored to secure by the showy adornments of their 
churches, the pomp of their ceremonials, and the attractions 
of famous relics and miracle-working images. The Domin- 
icans of Bern saw that if they could win this talented young 
scholar, they would secure both gain and honor. His ex- 
treme youth, his natural ability as a speaker and a writer, 
and his genius for music and poetry, would be more effective 
than all their pomp and display, in attracting the people to 
their services and increasing the revenues of their order. 
By deceit and flattery they endeavored to induce Zwingle to 
enter their convent. Luther while a student at school had 
buried himself in a convent cell, and he would have been 
lost to the world had not God's providence released him. 
Zwingle was not permitted to encounter the same peril. 
Providentially his father receh T ed information of the designs 
of the friars. He had no intention of allowing his son to 
follow the idle and worthless life of the monks. He saw 



THE SWISS REFORMER. 173 



that his future usefulness was at stake, and directed him to 
return home without delay. 

The command was obeyed; but the youth could not be 
long content in his native valley, and he soon resumed his 
studies, repairing, after a time, to Basel. It was here that 
Zwingle first heard the gospel of God's free grace. Wittem- 
bach, a teacher of the ancient languages, had, while studying 
Greek and Hebrew, been led to the Holy Scriptures, and 
thus rays of divine light were shed into the minds of the 
students under his instruction. He declared that there was 
a truth more ancient, and of infinitely greater worth, than 
the theories taught by schoolmen and philosophers. This 
ancient truth was that the death of Christ is the sinner's 
only ransom. To Zwingle these words were as the first ray 
of light that precedes the dawn. 

Zwingle was soon called from Basel, to enter upon his 
life-work. His first field of labor was in an Alpine parish, 
not far distant from his native valley. Having received 
ordination as a priest, " he devoted himself with his whole 
soul to the search after divine truth ; for he was well aware," 
says a fellow-reformer, "how much he must know to whom 
the flock of Christ is intrusted." The more he searched the 
Scriptures, the clearer appeared the contrast between their 
truths and the heresies of Rome. He submitted himself to 
the Bible as the word of God, the only sufficient, infallible 
rule. He saw that it must be its own interpreter. He dared 
not attempt to explain Scripture to sustain a preconceived 
theory or doctrine, but held it his duty to learn what is its 
direct and obvious teaching. He sought to avail himself of 
every help to obtain a full and correct understanding of its 
meaning, and he invoked the aid of the Holy Spirit, which 
would, he declared, reveal it to all who sought it in sincerity 
and with prayer. 

"The Scriptures," said Zwingle, "come from God, not 
from man. Even that God who enlightens will give thee to 
understand that the speech comes from God, The Word of 



174 77777 GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



God . . . cannot fail. It is bright, it teaches itself, dis- 
closes itself, it illumines the soul with all salvation and 
grace, comforts it in God, humbles it, so that it loses and 
even forfeits itself, and embraces God." The truth of these 
words Zwingle himself had proved. Speaking of his ex- 
perience at this time, he afterward wrote: "When I began 
to give myself wholly up to the Holy Scriptures, philosophy 
and theology (scholastic) would always keep suggesting 
quarrels to me. At last I came to this, that I thought, 
' Thou must let all that lie, and learn the meaning of God 
purely. out of his own simple Word.' Then I began to ask 
God for his light, and the Scriptures began to be much 
easier to me." 

The doctrine preached by Zwingle was not received from 
Luther. It was the doctrine of Christ. " If Luther preaches 
Christ," said the Swiss reformer, " he does what I do. He 
has led to Christ many more souls than I ; — be it so. Yet 
will I bear no other name than that of Christ, whose soldier 
I am, and who alone is my head'. Never has a single line 
been addressed by me to Luther, or by Luther to me. And 
why? — That it might be manifest to all how uniform is the 
testimony of the Spirit of God, since we, who have had no 
communication with each other, agree so' closely in the 
doctrine of Jesus Christ." 

In 1516 Zwingle was invited to become a preacher in the 
convent at Einsiedeln. Here he was to have a closer view 
of the corruptions of Rome, and was to exert an influence 
as a reformer that would be felt far beyond his native Alps. 
Among the chief attractions of Einsiedeln was an image of 
the virgin which was said to have the power of working 
miracles. Above the gateway of the convent was the in- 
scription, " Here may be obtained complete remission of 
sins." Pilgrims at all seasons resorted to the shrine of 
the virgin, but at the great yearly festival of its consecra- 
tion, multitudes came from all parts of Switzerland, and even 
from France and Germany. Zwingle, greatly afflicted at 



THE SWISS REFORMER. 175 



the sight, seized the opportunity to proclaim Liberty through 
the gospel to these bond-slaves of superstition. 

••Think not,'' he said, "that God is in this temple more 
than in any other part of creation. Wherever he has fixed 
your dwelling he encompasses you, and hears you. . . . 
What power can there be in unprofitable works, weary pil- 
grimages, offerings, prayers to the virgin and the saints, to 
secure you the favor of God? What signify the multiplying 
of words in prayer? What efficacy in the cowl or shaven 
crown, or priestly garments falling, and adorned with gold? 
God looks upon the heart — and our heart is far off from God." 
'"Christ.'' he said, "who offered himself on the cross once for 
all, is the sacrifice and victim that satisfies for all eternity, 
for the sins of all believers." 

To many listeners these teachings were unwelcome. It was 
a bitter disappointment to them to be told that their toilsome 
journey had been made in vain. The pardon freely offered 
to them through Christ they could not comprehend. They 
were satisfied with the old way to Heaven which Rome 
had marked out for them. They shrank from the perplexity 
of searching for anything better. It was easier to trust their 
salvation to the priests and the pope than to seek for purity 
of heart. 

But another class received with gladness the tidings of 
redemption through Christ. The observances enjoined by 
Rome had failed to bring peace of soul, and in faith they 
accepted the Saviour's blood as their propitiation. These 
returned to their homes to reveal to others the precious 
light which they had received. The truth was thus carried 
from hamlet to hamlet, from town to town, and the number 
of pilgrims to the virgin's shrine greatly lessened. There 
was a falling off in the offerings, and consequently in the 
salary of Zwingle, which w T as drawn from them. But this 
caused him only joy as he saw that the power of fanaticism 
and superstition was being broken. 

The authorities of the church were not blind to the work 



176 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



which Zwingle was accomplishing; but for the present they 
forbore to interfere. Hoping yet to secure him to their cause, 
they endeavored to win him by flatteries; and meanwhile 
the truth was gaining a hold upon the hearts of the people. 

Zwingle's labors at Einsiedeln had prepared him for a 
wider field, and this he was soon to enter. After three years 
here, he was called to the office of preacher in the cathedral 
at Zurich. This was then the most important town of the 
Swiss confederacy, and the influence exerted here would be 
widely' felt. The ecclesiastics by whose invitation he came 
to Zurich were, however, desirous of preventing any inno- 
vations, and they accordingly proceeded to instruct him as 
to his duties. 

"You will use your utmost diligence," they said, "in 
collecting the revenues of the chapter — not overlooking the 
smallest item. You will exhort the faithful, both from the 
pulpit and in the confessional, to pay all clues and tithes, and 
to testify by their offerings the love which they bear to the 
church. You will be careful to increase the income that 
arises from the sick, from masses, and in general from all 
ecclesiastical ordinances." " As to the administration of the 
sacraments, preaching, and personally watching over the 
flock," added his instructors, "these also are 'among the du- 
ties of the priest. But for the performance of these, you may 
employ a vicar to act in your stead, — especially in preaching. 
You are to administer the sacraments only to persons of 
distinction, and when especially called upon; you are not 
allowed to administer them indiscriminately to people of 
all ranks." 

Zwingle listened in silence to this charge, and in reply, 
after expressing his gratitude for the honor of a call to this 
important station, he proceeded to explain the course which 
he proposed to adopt. "The history of Jesus," he said, "has 
been too long kept out of the people's view. It is my pur- 
pose to lecture upon the whole of the Gospel according to 
St. Matthew, drawing from the fountains of Scripture alone, 



Till: SWISS REFORMER. 177 



sounding all its depths, comparing text with text, and put- 
ting up earnest and unceasing prayers, that I may be per- 
mitted to discover what is the mind of the Holy Spirit. It 
is to the glory of God, to the praise of his only Son, to the 
salvation of souls, and their instruction in the true faith, that 
I desire to consecrate my ministry." Though some of the 
ecclesiastics disapproved his plan, and endeavored to dis- 
suade him from it, Zwingle remained steadfast. He declared 
that he was about to introduce no new method, but the old 
method employed by the church in earlier and purer times. 

Already an interest had been awakened in the truths he 
taught; and the people flocked in great numbers to listen to 
his preaching. Many who had long since ceased to attend 
service were among his hearers. He began his ministry by 
opening the Gospels, and reading and explaining to his 
hearers the inspired narrative of the life, teachings, and 
death of Christ. Here, as at Einsiedeln, he presented the 
Word of God as the only infallible authority, and the death 
of Christ as the only complete sacrifice. " It is to Christ/' 
he said, "that I wish to guide you, — to Christ, the true 
spring of salvation." Around the preacher crowded the 
people of all classes, from statesmen and scholars to the 
artisan and the peasant. With deep interest they listened 
to his words. He not only proclaimed the offer of a free 
salvation, but fearlessly rebuked the evils and corruptions 
of the times. Many returned from the cathedral praising 
God. "This man," they said, "is a preacher of the truth. 
He will be our Moses, to lead us forth from this Egyptian 
darkness." 

But though at first his labors were received with great 
enthusiasm, after a time opposition arose. The monks set 
themselves to hinder his work and condemn his teachings. 
Many assailed him with gibes and sneers ; others resorted 
to insolence and threats. But Zwingle bore all with pa- 
tience, saying, "If we would win souls to Christ, we must 
learn to shut our eyes against many things that meet us in 
our way." 



178 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



About this time a new agency came in to advance the 
work of reform. One Lucian was sent to Zurich with some 
of Luther's writings by a friend of the reformed faith at 
Basel, who suggested that the sale of these books might be a 
powerful means of scattering the light, "Ascertain," he 
wrote to Zwingle, " whether this Lucian possesses a sufficient 
share of discretion and address; if it shall appear that he 
does, let him go from city to city, from town to town, from 
village to village, nay, from house to house, all over Switzer- 
land, carrying with him the writings of Luther, and espe- 
cially the exposition of the Lord's prayer written for the 
laity. The more it is known, the more purchasers will it 
find." Thus the light found entrance. 

At the time when God is preparing to break the shackles 
of ignorance and superstition, then it is that Satan works 
with greatest power to enshroud men in darkness, and to 
bind their fetters still more firmly. As men were rising up 
in different lands to present to the people forgiveness and 
justification through the blood of Christ, Rome proceeded 
with renewed energy to open her market throughout Chris- 
tendom, offering pardon for money. 

Every sin had its price, and men were granted free license 
for crime, if the treasury of the church was kept well filled. 
Thus the two movements advanced, — one offering forgive- 
ness of sin for money, the other forgiveness through Christ; 
Rome licensing sin, and making it her source of revenue; 
the reformers condemning sin, and pointing to Christ as the 
propitiation and deliverer. 

In Germany the sale of indulgences had been committed 
to the Dominican friars, and was conducted by the infamous 
Tetzel. In Switzerland the traffic was put into the hands of 
the Franciscans, under the control of Sampson, an Italian 
monk. Sampson had already done good service to the 
church, having secured immense sums from Germany and 
Switzerland to fill the papal treasury. Xow he traversed 
Switzerland, attracting great crowds, despoiling the poor 



THE SWISS REFORMER. 179 



peasants of their scanty earnings, and exacting rich gifts 
from the wealthy classes. But the influence of the reform 
already made itself felt in curtailing, though it could not 
stop, the traffic. Zwingle was still at Einsiedeln when Sam- 
son, soon after entering Switzerland, arrived with his wares 
at a neighboring town. Being apprised of his mission, the 
reformer immediately set out to oppose him. The two did 
not meet, but such was Zwingle's success in exposing the 
friar's pretensions that he was obliged to leave for other 
quarters. 

At Zurich, Zw T ingle preached zealously against the pardon- 
mongers, and when Samson approached the place he was 
met by a messenger from the council, with an intimation 
that he w r as expected to pass on. He finally secured an en- 
trance by stratagem, but was sent away without the sale of a 
single pardon, and he soon after left Switzerland. 

A strong impetus was given to the reform, by the appear- 
ance of the plague, or the "great death," which swept over 
Switzerland in the year 1519. As men w T ere thus brought 
face to face with the destroyer, many w T ere led to feel how 
vain and worthless w 7 ere the pardons wdiich they had so 
lately purchased; and they longed for a surer foundation 
for their faith. Zwingle at Zurich was smitten down; he 
was brought so low that all hope of his recovery was relin- 
quished, and the report was widely circulated that he was 
dead. In that trying hour his hope and courage w r ere un- 
shaken. He looked in faith to the cross of Calvary, trusting 
in the all-sufficient propitiation for sin. When he came 
back from the gates of death, it was to preach the gospel 
with greater fervor than ever before; and his words exerted 
an unwonted power. The people welcomed with joy their 
beloved pastor, returned to them from the brink of the 
grave. They themselves had come from attending upon 
the sick and the dying, and they felt, as never before, the 
value of the gospel. 

Zwingle had arrived at a clearer understanding of its 



180 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



truths, and had more fully experienced in himself its renew- 
ing power. The fall of man and the plan of redemption 
were the subjects upon which he dwelt. "In Adam," he 
said, " we are all dead, sunk in corruption and condemna- 
tion." '"But Christ lias purchased for us an everlasting 
deliverance." " His passion is an eternal sacrifice, and has 
a perpetual efficacy; it satisfies the divine justice forever 
upon behalf of all who rely upon it with a firm, unshaken 
faith." Yet he clearly taught that men are not, because of 
the grace of Christ, free to continue in sin. " Wheresoever 
there is faith in God, there God himself abides; and where- 
soever God is, there is awakened a zeal which urges and 
constrains men to good works." 

Such was the interest in Zwingle's preaching that the 
cathedral was filled to overflowing with the crowds that 
came to listen to him. Little by little, as they could bear 
it, he opened the truth to his hearers. He was careful not 
to introduce, at first, points which would startle them and 
create prejudice. His first w T ork was to win their hearts to 
the teachings of Christ, to soften them by his love, and keep 
before them his example; and as they should receive the 
principles of the gospel, their superstitious beliefs and prac- 
tices would inevitably be overthrown. 

Step by step the Reformation advanced in Zurich. In alarm 
its enemies aroused to active opposition. One year before, 
the monk of Wittenberg had uttered his " No " to the pope 
and the emperor at Worms, and now everything seemed to 
indicate a similar withstanding of the papal claims at Zu- 
rich. Repeated attacks were made upon Zwingle. In the 
popish cantons, from time to time, disciples of the gospel 
were brought to the stake, but this was not enough; the 
teacher of heresy must be silenced. Accordingly the Bishop 
of Constance dispatched three deputies to the Council of Zu- 
rich, accusing Zwingle of teaching the people to transgress the 
laws of the church, thus endangering the peace and good order 
of society. If the authority of the church were to be set aside, 



THE SWISS REFORMER. 181 



he urged, universal anarchy would result. Zwingle replied 
that he had been for four years teaching the gospel in Zu- 
rich, "which was more quiet and peaceful than any other 
town in the confederacy." "Is not then," he said, " Chris- 
tianity the best safeguard of the general security?" 

The deputies had admonished the councillors to continue 
in the church, out of which, they declared, there was no sal- 
vation. Zwingle responded : " Let not this accusation move 
you. The foundation of the church is the same Rock, the 
same Christ, that gave Peter his name because he confessed 
him faithfully. In every nation whoever believes with all 
his heart in the Lord Jesus is accepted of God. Here, truly, 
is the church, out of which no one can be saved." As a 
result of the conference, one of the bishop's deputies accepted 
the reformed faith. 

The council declined to take action against Zwingle, and 
Rome prepared for a fresh attack. The reformer, when ap- 
prised of the plots of his enemies, exclaimed, "Let them 
come on ; I fear them as the beetling cliff fears the waves 
that thunder at its feet." The efforts of the ecclesiastics only 
furthered the cause which they sought to overthrow. The 
truth continued to spread. In Germany its adherents, cast 
down by Luther's disappearance, took heart again, as they 
saw the progress of the gospel in Switzerland. 

As the Reformation became established in Zurich, its 
fruits were more fully seen in the suppression of vice, and 
the promotion of order and harmony. " Peace has her hab- 
itation in our town," wrote Zwingle ; " no quarrel, no hypoc- 
risy, no envy, no strife. Whence can such union come but 
from the Lord, and our doctrine, which fills us with the 
fruits of peace and piety?" 

The victories gained by the Reformation stirred the Ro- 
manists to still more determined efforts for its overthrow. 
Seeing how little had been accomplished by persecution in 
suppressing Luther's work in Germany, they decided to meet 
the reform with its own weapons. They would hold a dis- 



182 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



putation with Zwingle, and having the arrangement of 
matters, they would make sure of victory by choosing, them- 
selves, not only the place of the combat, but the judges that 
should decide between the disputants. And if they could 
once get Zwingle into their power, they would take care that 
he did not escape them. The leader silenced, the move-- 
ment could speedily be crushed. This purpose, however, 
was carefully concealed. 

The disputation was appointed to be held at Baden ; but 
Zwingle was not present. The Council of Zurich, suspect- 
ing the designs of the papists, and warned by the burning 
piles kindled in the popish cantons for confessors of the gos- 
pel, forbade their pastor to expose himself to this peril. At 
Zurich he was ready to meet all the partisans that Rome 
might send; but to go to Baden, where the blood of. martyrs 
for the truth had just been shed, was to go to certain death. 
(Ecolampadius and Haller were chosen to represent the 
reformers, while the famous Doctor Eck, supported by a host 
of learned doctors and prelates, was the champion of Rome. 

Though Zwingle was not present at the conference, his 
influence was felt. The secretaries were all chospn by the 
papists, and others were forbidden to take, notes, on pain of 
death. Notwithstanding this, Zwingle received daily a faith- 
ful account of what was said at Baden. A student in attend- 
ance at the disputation, made a record each evening of the 
arguments that day presented. These papers two other stu- 
dents undertook to deliver, with the daily letters of (Eco- 
lampadius, to Zwingle at Zurich. The reformer answered, 
giving counsel and suggestions. His letters were written by 
night, and the students returned with them to Baden in the 
morning. To elude the vigilance of the guard stationed at 
the city gates, these messengers brought baskets of poultry 
on their heads, and they were permitted to pass without 
hindrance. 

Thus Zwingle maintained the battle with his wily antag- 



THE SWISS REFORMER. 183 

onists. "He has Labored more," said Myconius, "-in medi- 
tating upon and watching the contest, and transmitting his 
advice to Baden, than he could have done by disputing in 
the midst of his enemies." 

The Romanists, flushed with anticipated triumph, had 
come to Baden attired in their richest robes, and glittering 
with jewels. They fared luxuriously, their tables spread 
with the most. costly delicacies and the choicest wines. The 
burden of their ecclesiastical duties was lightened by gayety 
and reveling. In marked contrast appeared the reformers, 
who were looked upon by the people as little better than a 
company of beggars, and whose frugal fare kept them but 
short time at table. CEcolampadius' landlord, taking occa- 
sion to watch him in his room, found him always engaged 
in study or at prayer, and, greatly w 7 ondering, reported that 
"the heretic was at least very pious." 

At the conference, "Eck haughtily ascended a pulpit 
superbly decorated, while the humble CEcolampadius, meanly 
clad, sat facing his adversary, upon a rudely constructed 
platform." Eck's stentorian voice and unbounded assur- 
ance never failed him. His zeal was stimulated by the hope 
of gold as well as fame ; for the defender of the faith was to 
be rewarded by a handsome fee. When better arguments 
failed, he had resort to insults, and even to oaths. 

CEcolampadius, modest and self-distrustful, had shrunk 
from the combat, and he entered upon it w T ith the solemn 
avowal, " I recognize no other rule of judgment than the 
Word of God." Though gentle and courteous in demeanor, 
he proved himself able and unflinching. While the Roman- 
ists, according to their wont, appealed for authority to the 
customs of the church, the reformer adhered steadfastly to 
the Holy Scriptures. " In our Switzerland," he said, " custom 
is of no force unless it be according to the constitution ; now 
in all matters of faith, the Bible is our constitution." 

The contrast between the two disputants was not without 



184 THE GREAT COXTROVERSY. 



effect. The calm, clear reasoning of the reformer, so gently 
and modestly presented, appealed to minds that turned in 
disgust from Eck's boastful and boisterous assumptions. 

The discussion continued eighteen days. At its close, the 
papists with great confidence claimed the victory. Most of 
the deputies sided with Rome, and the Diet pronounced the 
reformers vanquished, and declared that they, together with 
Zwingle, their leader, were cut off from the church. But 
the fruits of the conference revealed on which side the 
advantage lay. The contest resulted in a strong impetus 
to the Protestant cause, and it was not long afterward 
that the important cities of Bern and Basel declared for 
the Reformation. 



CHAPTER X 



PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 

Luther's mysterious disappearance excited consternation 
throughout all Germany. Inquiries concerning him were 
heard everywhere. The wildest rumors were circulated, and 
many believed that he had been murdered. There was 
great lamentation, not only by his avowed friends, but by 
thousands who had not openly taken their stand with the 
Reformation. Many bound themselves by a solemn oath to 
avenge his death. 

The Romish leaders saw with terror to what a pitch had 
risen the feeling against them. Though at first exultant at 
the supposed death of Luther, they soon desired to hide 
from the wrath of the people. His enemies had not been 
so troubled by his most daring acts while among them as 
they were at his removal. Those who in their rage had 
sought to destroy the bold reformer, were filled with fear 
now that he had become a helpless captive. " The only way 
of extricating ourselves," said one, "is to light our torches, 
and go searching through the earth for Luther, till we can 
restore him to the nation that will have him." The edict 
of the emperor seemed to fall powerless. The papal legates 
were filled with indignation as they saw that it commanded 
far less attention than did the fate of Luther. 

The tidings that he was safe, though a prisoner, calmed 
the fears of the people, while it still further aroused their 
enthusiasm in his favor. His writings were read with greater 
eagerness than ever before. Increasing numbers joined the 
cause of the heroic man who had, at such fearful odds, de- 
fended the Word of God. The Reformation was constantly 

15 (185) 



186 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

gaining in strength. The seed which Luther had sown 
sprung up everywhere. His absence accomplished a work 
which his presence would have failed to do. Other laborers 
felt a new responsibility, now that their great leader was 
removed. With new faith and earnestness they pressed for- 
ward to do all in their power, that the work so nobly begun 
might not be hindered. 

But Satan was not idle. He now attempted what he has 
attempted in every other reformatory movement, — to deceive 
and destroy the people by palming off upon them a counter- 
feit in place of the true work. As there were false christs in 
the first century of the Christian church, so there arose false 
prophets in the sixteenth century. 

A few men, deeply affected by the excitement in the re- 
ligious world, imagined themselves to have received special 
revelations from Heaven, and claimed to have been divinely 
commissioned to carry forward to its completion the Infor- 
mation which, they declared, had been but feebly begun 
by Luther. In truth, they were undoing the very work 
which he had accomplished. They rejected the great prin- 
ciple which was the very foundation of the Reformation, — 
that the Word of God is the all-sufficient rule of faith and 
practice ; and for that unerring guide they substituted the 
changeable, uncertain standard of their own feelings and 
impressions. By this act of setting aside the great detector 
of error and falsehood, the way was opened for Satan to con- 
trol minds as best pleased himself. 

One of these prophets claimed to have been instructed by 
the angel Gabriel. A student who united with him forsook 
his studies, declaring that he had been endowed by God 
himself with wisdom to expound his Word. Others who 
were naturally inclined to fanaticism united with them. 
The proceedings of these enthusiasts created no little excite- 
ment. The preaching of Luther had aroused the people 
everywhere to feel the necessity of reform, and now some 
really honest persons were misled by the pretensions of the 
new prophets. 



PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 187 

The leaders of the movement proceeded to Wittenberg, and 
urged their claims upon Melancthon and his co-laborers. 
Said they: "We are sent by God to teach the people. We 
have received special revelations from God himself, and 
therefore know what is coming to pass. We are apostles and 
prophets, and appeal to Doctor Luther as to the truth of 
what we say." 

The reformers were astonished and perplexed. This was 
such an element as they had never before encountered, and 
they knew not what course to pursue. Said Melancthon: 
"There are indeed spirits of no ordinary kind in these men; 
but what spirits?" "On the one hand, let us beware of 
quenching the Spirit of God, and on the other, of being 
seduced by the spirit of Satan." 

The fruit of the new teaching soon became apparent. The 
people were led to neglect the Bible or to wholly cast it aside. 
The schools were thrown into confusion. Students, spurn- 
ing all restraint, abandoned their studies, and withdrew 
from the university. The men who thought themselves 
competent to revive and control the work of the Reforma- 
tion, succeeded only in bringing it to the verge of ruin. The 
Romanists now regained their confidence, and exclaimed 
exultingly, "One more effort, and all will be ours." 

Luther at the Wartburg, hearing of what had occurred? 
said with deep concern, " I always expected that Satan would 
send us this plague." He perceived the true character of 
those pretended prophets, and saw the danger that threat- 
ened the cause of truth. The opposition of the pope and 
the emperor had not caused him so great perplexity and 
distress as he now experienced. From the professed friends 
of the Reformation had risen its worst enemies. The very 
truths which had brought him so great joy and consolation 
were being employed to stir up strife and create confusion in 
the church. 

In the work of reform, Luther had been urged forward 
by the Spirit of God, and had been carried beyond himself. 



188 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

He had not purposed to take such positions as he did, or to 
make so radical changes. He had been but the instrument 
in the hand of infinite power. Yet he often trembled for 
the result of his work. He had once said, " If I knew that 
my doctrine had injured one human being, however jDOor 
and unknown, — which it could not, for it is the very gos- 
pel, — I would rather face death ten times over than not 
retract it." 

And now Wittenberg itself, the A^ery center of the Refor- 
mation, was fast falling under the power of fanaticism and 
lawlessness. This terrible condition had not resulted from 
the teachings of Luther ; but throughout Germany his ene- 
mies were charging it upon him. In bitterness of soul he 
sometimes asked, " Can such be the end of this great work 
of the Reformation?" Again, as he wrestled with God in 
prayer, peace flowed into his heart. "The work is not 
mine, but thine own," he said; "thou wilt not suffer it to be 
corrupted by superstition or fanaticism." But the thought 
of remaining longer from the conflict in such a crisis, became 
insupportable. He determined to return to Wittenberg. 

Without delay he set out on his perilous journey. He 
was under the ban of the empire. Enemies were at liberty 
to take his life; friends were forbidden to aid or shelter him. 
The imperial government was adopting the most stringent 
measures against his adherents. But he saw that the work 
of the gospel was imperiled, and in the name of the Lord he 
went out fearlessly to battle for the truth. 

In a letter to the elector, after stating his purpose to leave 
the Wartburg, Luther said : " Be it known to your highness 
that I am repairing to Wittenberg under a protection more 
powerful than that of an elector. I have no thought of so- 
liciting the aid of your highness ; and am so far from desiring 
your protection that it is rather my purpose to protect your 
highness. If I knew that your highness could or would 
take up my defense, I would not come to Wittenberg. No 
secular sword can advance this cause; God must do all, 



PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 189 

without the aid or co-operation of man. He who has most 
faith is the most availing defense." 

In a second letter, written on the way to Wittenberg, 
Luther added: "Behold me ready to bear your highness' 
disapprobation, and the anger of the whole world. Are not 
the Wittenbergers my own sheep? Has not God committed 
them to my care? and ought I not, if need be, to lay clown 
my life for them? Besides, I dread lest we should see, 
throughout Germany, a revolt by which God shall punish 
our nation." 

With great caution and humility, yet with decision and 
firmness, he entered upon his work. " By the Word," said 
he, " we must refute and expel what has gained a place and 
influence by violence. I would not resort to force against 
the superstitious and unbelieving." " Let there be no com- 
pulsion. I have been laboring for liberty of conscience. 
Liberty is of the very essence of faith." 

It was soon noised through Wittenberg that Luther had 
returned, and that he was to preach. The people flocked 
from all directions, and the church was filled to overflowing. 
Ascending the pulpit he with great wisdom and gentleness 
instructed, exhorted, and reproved. Touching the course of 
some who had resorted to violent measures in abolishing 
the mass, he said: — 

" The mass is a bad thing. God is opposed to it. It ought 
to be abolished, and I would that everywhere the supper 
of the gospel were established in its stead. But let none be 
torn from it by force. We must leaA^e results to God. It is 
not we that must work, but his Word. ' And why so?' you 
-will ask. Because the hearts of men are not in my hand 
as clay in the hand of the potter. We have a right to speak, 
but none whatever to compel. Let us preach ; the rest belongs 
to God. If I resort to force, what shall I gain? Grimace, 
fair appearances, cramped uniformity, and hypocrisy. But 
there will be no hearty sincerity, no faith, no love. Where 
these are wanting, all is wanting, and I would not give a 



190 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

straw for such a victory. God does more by the simple 
power of his Word than you and I and the whole world 
could effect by all our efforts put together. God arrests the 
heart, and that once taken, all is won." 

"I am ready to preach, argue, write; but I will not con- 
strain any one, for faith is 'but a voluntary act. Call to 
mind what I have already done. I stood up against pope, 
indulgences, and papists ; but without violence or tumult. 
I brought forward God's Word; I preached and wrote, and 
then I stopped. And while I laid me down and slept, . . 
the Word I had preached brought down the power of the 
pope to the ground, so that never prince or emperor had 
dealt it such a blow. For my part I did next to nothing ; 
the power of the Word did the whole business. Had I 
appealed to force, Germany might have been deluged with 
blood. But what would have been the consequence? Ruin 
and destruction of soul and body. Accordingly I kept quiet, 
and let the Word run through the length and breadth of the 
land." 

Day after day, for a whole week, Luther continued to 
preach to eager crowds. The Word of God broke the spell 
of fanatical excitement. The power of the gospel brought 
back the misguided people into the way of truth. 

Luther had no desire to encounter the fanatics whose 
course had been productive of so great evil. He knew them 
to be men of unsound judgment and undisciplined passions, 
who, while claiming to be especially illuminated from Heaven, 
would not endure the slightest contradiction, or even the 
kindest reproof or counsel. Arrogating to themselves su- 
preme authority, they required every one, without a ques- 
tion, to acknowledge their claims. But as they demanded 
an interview with him, he consented to meet them ; and so 
successfully did he expose their pretensions, that the impos- 
tors at once departed from Wittenberg. 

The fanaticism was checked for a time ; but several years 
later it broke out with greater violence and more terrible 



PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 191 

results. Said Luther, concerning the leaders in this move- 
ment: "To them the Holy Scriptures were but a dead letter, 
and they all began to cry, 'The Spirit! the Spirit!' But 
most assuredly I will not follow where their spirit leads them. 
May God in his mercy preserve me from a church in which 
there are none but such saints. I wish to be in fellowship 
with the humble, the feeble, the sick, who know and feel 
their sins, and who sigh and cry continually to God from 
the bottom of their hearts to obtain his consolation and 
support." 

Thomas Munzer, the most active of the fanatics, was a man 
of considerable ability, which, rightly directed, would have 
enabled him to do good ; but he had not learned the first 
principles of true religion. He imagined himself ordained 
of God to reform the world, forgetting, like many other 
enthusiasts, that the reform should begin with himself. He 
was ambitious to obtain position and influence, and was un- 
willing to be second, even to Luther. He declared that the 
reformers, in substituting the authority of Scripture for that 
of the pope, were only establishing a different form of popeiy. 
He himself, he claimed, had been divinely commissioned to 
introduce the true reform. "He who hath the Spirit," said 
Munzer, "hath true faith, although he should never once in 
all his life see the Holy Scriptures." 

The fanatical teachers gave themselves up to be governed 
by impressions, regarding every thought and impulse as the 
voice of God; consequently they went to great extremes. 
Some even burned their Bibles, exclaiming, "The letter 
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Munzer's teaching ap- 
pealed to men's desire for the marvelous, while it gratified 
their pride by virtually placing human ideas and opinions 
above the Word of God. His doctrines were received by 
thousands. He soon denounced all order in public worship, 
and declared that to obey princes was to attempt to serve 
both God and Belial. 

The minds of the people, already beginning to throw off 



192 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

the yoke of the papacy, were also becoming impatient nnder 
the restraints of civil authority. Munzer's revolutionary 
teachings, claiming divine sanction, led them to break away 
from all control, and give the rein to their prejudices and 
passions. The most terrible scenes of sedition and strife fol- 
lowed, and the fields of Germany were drenched with blood. 

The agony of soul which Luther had so long before ex- 
perienced at Erfurt, now pressed upon him with redoubled 
power as he saw the results of fanaticism charged upon the 
Reformation. The papist princes declared — and many were 
ready to credit the statement — that the rebellion was the 
legitimate fruit of Luther's doctrines. Although this charge 
was without the slightest foundation, it could not but cause 
the reformer great distress. That the cause of truth should 
be thus disgraced by being, ranked with the basest fanaticism, 
seemed more than he could endure. On the other hand, 
the leaders in the revolt hated Luther because he had not 
only opposed their doctrines and denied their claims to 
divine inspiration, but had pronounced them rebels against 
the civil authority. In retaliation they denounced him as a 
base pretender. He seemed to have brought upon himself 
the enmity of both princes and people. 

The Romanists exulted, expecting to witness the speedy 
downfall of the Reformation ; and they blamed Luther, even 
for the errors which he had been most earnestly endeavoring 
to correct. The fanatical party, by falsely claiming to have 
been treated with great injustice, succeeded in gaining the 
sympathies of a large class of the people, and, as is often the 
case with those who take the wrong side, they came to be 
regarded as martyrs. Thus the ones who were exerting 
every energy in opposition to the Reformation were pitied 
and lauded as the victims of cruelty and oppression. This 
was the work of Satan, prompted by the same spirit of re- 
bellion which was first manifested in Heaven. 

Satan is constantly seeking to deceive men, and lead them 
to call sin righteousness, and righteousness sin. How sue- 



PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY, 193 

cessful has been his work! How often censure and reproach 
are cast upon God's faithful servants because they will stand 
fearlessly in defense of the truth! Men who are but agents 
of Satan are praised and flattered, and even looked upon as 
martyrs, while those who should be respected and sustained 
for their fidelity to God, are left to stand alone, under sus- 
picion and distrust. 

Counterfeit holiness, spurious sanctification, is still doing 
its work of deception. Under various forms it exhibits the 
same spirit as in the days of Luther, diverting minds from 
the Scriptures, and leading men to follow their own feelings 
and impressions rather than to yield obedience to the law of 
God. This is one of Satan's most successful devices to cast 
reproach upon purity and truth. 

Fearlessly did Luther defend the gospel from the attacks 
which came from every quarter. The Word of God proved 
itself a weapon mighty in every conflict. With that Word 
he warred against the usurped authority of the pope, and 
the rationalistic philosophy of the schoolmen, while he stood 
firm as a rock against the fanaticism that sought to ally 
itself with the Reformation. 

Each of these opposing elements was in its own way set- 
ting aside the Holy Scriptures, and exalting human wisdom 
as the source of religious truth and knowledge. Rationalism 
idolizes reason, and makes this the criterion for religion. 
Romanism, claiming for her sovereign pontiff an inspiration 
descended in unbroken line from the apostles, and unchange- 
able through all time, gives ample opportunity for every 
species of extravagance and corruption to be concealed under 
the sanctity of the apostolic commission. The inspiration 
claimed by Munzer and his associates proceeded from no 
higher source than the vagaries of the imagination, and its 
influence was subversive of all authority, human or divine. 
True Christianity receives the Word of God as the great treas- 
ure-house of inspired truth, and the test of all inspiration. 

Upon his return from the Wartburg, Luther completed 



194 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



his translation of the New Testament, and the gospel was 
soon after given to the people of Germany in their own 
language. This translation was received with great joy by all 
who loved the truth; but it was scornfully rejected by those 
who chose human traditions and the commandments of men. 

The priests were alarmed at the thought that the common 
people would now be able to discuss with them the precepts 
of God's Word, and that their own ignorance would thus be 
exposed. The weapons of their carnal reasoning were power- 
less against the sword of the Spirit. Rome summoned all 
her authority to prevent the circulation of the Scriptures; 
but decrees, anathemas, and tortures were alike in vain. 
The more she condemned and prohibited the Bible, the 
greater was the anxiety of the people to know what it really 
taught. All who could read were eager to study the Word 
of God for themselves. They carried it about with them, 
and read and re-read, and could not be satisfied until they 
had committed large portions to memory. Seeing the favor 
with which the New Testament was received, Luther imme- 
diately began the translation of the Old, and published it in 
parts as fast as completed. 

Luther's writings were welcomed alike in city and in ham- 
let. "Whatever Luther and his friends composed, others 
disseminated far and wide. Monks who had been led to see 
the unlawfulness of the monastic obligations, desirous of 
exchanging a life of indolence for one of activity, but too 
ignorant to be able themselves to proclaim the Word of God, 
traversed the provinces, selling the writings of the reformer 
and his friends. Germany was erelong overrun with these 
enterprising colporters." 

These writings were studied with deep interest by rich and 
poor, the learned and the ignorant. At night the teachers of 
the village schools read them aloud to little groups gathered 
at the fireside. With every effort, some souls would be con- 
victed of the truth, and, receiving the word with gladness, 
would in their turn tell the good news to others. 



PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 195 

The words of inspiration were verified: "The entrance of 
thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the 
simple." 1 The study of the Scriptures was working a 
mighty change in the minds and hearts of the people. The 
papal rule had placed upon its subjects an iron yoke which 
held them in ignorance and degradation. A superstitious 
observance of forms had been scrupulously maintained ; but 
in all their service the heart and intellect had had little part. 
The preaching of Luther, setting forth the plain truths of 
God's Word, and then the Word itself, placed in the hands of 
the common people, had aroused their dormant powers, not 
only purifying and ennobling the spiritual nature, but im- 
parting new strength and vigor to the intellect. 

Persons of all ranks were to be seen with the Bible in 
their hands, defending the doctrines of the Reformation. 
The papists w T ho had left the study of the Scriptures to the 
priests and monks, now called upon them to come forward 
and refute the new teachings. But, ignorant alike of the 
Scriptures and of the power of God, priests and friars were 
totally defeated by those whom they had denounced as 
unlearned and heretical. "Unhappily," said a Catholic 
writer, "Luther had persuaded his followers that their faith 
ought only to be founded on the oracles of Holy Writ." 
Crowds would gather to hear the truth advocated by men 
of little education, and even discussed by them with learned 
and eloquent theologians. The shameful ignorance of these 
great men was made apparent as their arguments were met 
by the simple teachings of God's Word. Laborers, soldiers, 
women, and even children, were better acquainted with the 
Bible teachings than were the priests and learned doctors. 

The contrast between the disciples of the gospel and the 
upholders of popish superstition was no less manifest in the 
ranks of scholars than among the common people. "Op- 
posed to the old defenders of the hierarchy, who had neg- 
lected the acquirement of the languages and the cultivation 
of literature, were generous-minded youths, most of them 

iPs. 119:130. 



193 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, 

devoted to study and the investigation of the Scriptures, and 
acquainted with the literary treasures of antiquity. Gifted 
with quickness of apprehension, elevation of soul, and in- 
trepidity of heart, these youths soon attained such proficiency 
that none could compete with them." " So that on public 
occasions, on which these youthful defenders of the Refor- 
mation encountered the Romish doctors, their assaults were 
carried on with an ease and confidence that embarrassed 
the dullness of their adversaries, and exposed them before 
all to deserved contempt." 

As the Romish clergy saw their congregations diminish- 
ing, they invoked the aid of the magistrates, and by every 
means in their power endeavored to bring back their hear- 
ers. But the people had found in the new teachings that 
which supplied the wants of their souls, and they turned 
away from those who had so long fed them with the worth- 
less husks of superstitious rites and human traditions. 

When persecution was kindled against the teachers of the 
truth, they gave heed to the words of Christ, " When they 
persecute you in this city, flee ye into another." l The light 
penetrated everywhere. The fugitives would find some- 
where a hospitable door opened to them, and there abiding, 
they would preach Christ, sometimes in the church, or, if 
denied that privilege, in private houses or in the open air. 
Wherever they could obtain a hearing was a consecrated 
temple. The truth, proclaimed with such energy and assur- 
ance, spread with irresistible power. 

In vain both ecclesiastical and civil authorities were in- 
voked to crush the heresy. In vain they resorted to impris- 
onment, torture, fire, and sword. Thousands of believers 
sealed their faith with their blood, and yet the work went 
on. Persecution served only to extend the truth; and the 
fanaticism which Satan endeavored to unite with it, resulted 
in making more clear the contrast between the work of Satan 
and the work of God. 

!Matt. 10:23. 



CHAPTER XI. 



PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 

One of the noblest testimonies ever uttered for the Refor- 
mation, was the Protest offered by the Christian princes of 
Germany at the Diet of Spires in 1529. The courage, faith, 
and firmness of those men of God, gained for succeeding 
ages liberty of thought and of conscience. Their Protest 
gave to the reformed church the name of Protestant; its 
principles are the very essence of Protestantism. 

A dark and threatening day had come for the Reforma- 
tion. Notwithstanding the edict of Worms, declaring Luther 
to be an outlaw, and forbidding the teaching or belief of his 
doctrines, religious toleration had thus far prevailed in the 
empire. God's providence had held in check the forces that 
opposed the truth. Charles V. was bent on crushing the 
Reformation, but often as he raised his hand to strike, he 
had been forced to turn aside the blow. Again and again 
the immediate destruction of all who dared to oppose them- 
selves to Rome appeared inevitable ; but at the critical mo- 
ment the armies of the Turk appeared on the eastern frontier, 
or the king of France, or even the pope himself, jealous of 
the increasing greatness of the emperor, made war upon 
him; and thus, amid the strife and tumult of nations, the 
Reformation had been left to strengthen and extend. 

At last, however, the papal sovereigns had stifled their 
feuds, that they might make common cause against the 
reformers. The Diet of Spires in 1526 had given each State 
full liberty in matters of religion until the meeting of a 
general council; but no sooner had the dangers passed which 
secured this concession, than the emperor summoned a sec- 

(197) 



198 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

and Diet to convene at Spires in 1529 for the purpose of 
crushing heresy. The princes were to be induced, by peace- 
able means if possible, to side against the Reformation ; but 
if these failed, Charles was prepared to resort to the sword. 

The papists were exultant. They appeared at Spires in 
great numbers, and openly manifested their hostility toward 
the reformers and all who favored them. Said Melancthon, 
"We are the execration and the sweepings of the earth; 
but Christ will look down on his poor people, and will pre- 
serve them." The evangelical princes in attendance at the 
Diet were forbidden even to have the gospel preached in 
their dwellings. But the people of Spires thirsted for the 
Word of God, and, notwithstanding the prohibition, thou- 
sands flocked to the services held in the chapel of the Elector 
of Saxony. 

This hastened the crisis. An imperial message announced 
to the Diet that as the resolution granting liberty of con- 
science had given rise to great disorders, the emperor re- 
quired that it be annulled. This arbitrary act excited the 
indignation and alarm of the evangelical Christians. Said 
one, " Christ has again fallen into the hands of Caiaphas and 
Pilate." The Romanists became more violent. A bigoted 
papist declared, " The Turks are better than- the Lutherans ; 
for the Turks observe fast-days, and the Lutherans violate 
them. If we must choose between the Holy Scriptures of 
God and the old errors of the church, we should reject the 
former." Said Melancthon, "Every day, in full assembly, 
Faber casts some new stone against the Gospellers." 

Religious toleration had been legally established, and the 
evangelical States were resolved to oppose the infringement 
of their rights. Luther, being still under the ban imposed 
by the edict of Worms, was not permitted to be present at 
Spires; but his place was supplied by his co-laborers and 
the princes whom God had raised up to defend his cause in 
this emergency. The noble Frederick of Saxony, Luther's 
former protector, had been removed by death; but Duke 



PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 199 

John, his brother and successor, had joyfully welcomed the 
Reformation, and while a friend of peace, he displayed great 
energy and courage in all matters relating to the interests 
of the faith. 

The priests demanded that the States which had accepted 
the Reformation submit implicitly to Romish jurisdiction. 
The reformers, on the other hand, claimed the liberty which 
had previously been granted. They could not consent that 
Rome should again bring under her control those States 
that had with so great joy received the Word of God. 

As a compromise it was finally proposed that where the 
Reformation had not become established, the edict of Worms 
should be rigorously enforced ; and that in the evangelical 
States, where there would be danger of revolt, no new 
reform should be introduced, there should be no preaching 
upon disputed points, the celebration of the mass should not 
be opposed, and no Roman Catholic should be permitted to 
embrace Lutheranism. This measure passed the Diet, to 
the great satisfaction of the popish priests and prelates. 

If this edict were enforced, the Reformation could neither 
be extended where as yet it had not reached, nor be estab- 
lished on a firm foundation where it already existed. Lib- 
erty of speech would be prohibited. No conversions would 
be allowed. And to these restrictions and prohibitions the 
friends of the Reformation were required at once to submit. 
The hopes of the world seemed about to be extinguished. 
The re-establishment of the papal worship would inevitably 
cause a revival of the ancient abuses ; and an occasion would 
readily be found for completing the destruction of a work 
that had already been shaken by fanaticism and dissension. 

As the evangelical party met for consultation, one looked 
to another in blank dismay. From one to another passed 
the inquiry, "What is to be done?" Mighty issues for the 
world were at stake. " Should the chiefs of the Reformation 
submit, and accept the edict? How easily might the reform- 
ers at this crisis, which was truly a tremendous one, have 



200 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

argued themselves into a wrong course ! How many plaus- 
ible pretexts and fair reasons might they have found for 
submission ! The Lutheran princes were guaranteed the 
free exercise of their religion. The same boon was extended 
to all those of their subjects who, prior to the passing of the 
measure, had embraced the reformed views. Ought not 
this to content them? How many perils would submission 
avoid! On what unknown hazards and conflicts would 
opposition launch them! Who knows what opportunities 
the future may bring? Let us embrace peace; let us seize 
the olive-branch Rome holds out, and close the wounds of 
Germany. With arguments like these might the reformers 
have justified their adoption of a course which would have 
assuredly issued in no long time in the overthrow of their 
cause. 

"Happily they looked at the principle on which this arrange- 
ment was based, and they acted in faith. What was that prin- 
ciple? — It was the right of Rome to coerce conscience and for- 
bid free inquiry. But were not themselves and their Prot- 
estant subjects to enjoy religious freedom? — Yes, as a favor, 
specially stipulated for in the arrangement, but not as a 
right. As to all outside that arrangement, the great prin- 
ciple of authority was to rule ; conscience was out of court, 
Rome was infallible judge, and must be obeyed. The accept- 
ance of the proposed arrangement would have been a virtual 
admission that religious liberty ought to be confined to 
reformed Saxony ; and as to all the rest of Christendom, free 
inquiry and the profession of the reformed faith were crimes, 
and must be visited with the dungeon and the stake. 
Could they consent to localize religious liberty? to have it 
proclaimed that the Reformation had made its last convert, 
had subjugated its last acre? and that wherever Rome bore 
sway at this hour, there her dominion was to be perpetu- 
ated? Could the reformers have pleaded that they were 
innocent of the blood of those hundreds and thousands who, 
in pursuance of this arrangement, would have to yield up 



PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 201 

t heir lives in popish lands? This would have been to betray 
at that supreme hour, the cause of the gospel, and the liber- 
ties of Christendom." Rather would they sacrifice their 
dominions, their titles, and their own lives. 

" Let us reject this decree," said the princes. " In matters 
of conscience the majority has no power." The deputies 
declared that Germany was indebted to the decree of tolera- 
tion for the peace which she enjoyed, and that its abolition 
would fill the empire with troubles and divisions. "The 
Diet is incompetent," said they, "to do more than preserve 
religious liberty until a council meets." To protect liberty 
of conscience is the duty of the State, and this is the limit of 
its authority in matters of religion. Every secular govern- 
ment that attempts to regulate or enforce religious observ- 
ances by civil authority is sacrificing the very principle for 
which the evangelical Christians so nobly struggled. 

The papists determined to put down what they termed 
daring obstinacy. They began by endeavoring to cause 
divisions among the supporters of the Reformation, and to 
intimidate all who had not openly declared in its favor. The 
representatives of the free cities were at last summoned before 
the Diet, and required to declare whether they would accede 
to the terms of the proposition. They pleaded for delay, 
but in vain. When brought to the test, nearly one-half their 
number sided with the reformers. Those w r ho thus refused 
to sacrifice liberty of conscience and the right of individual 
judgment well knew r that their position marked them for 
future criticism, condemnation, and persecution. Said one 
of the delegates, " We must either deny the Word of God 
or — be burned." 

King Ferdinand, the emperor's representative at the Diet, 
saw that the decree would cause serious divisions unless the 
princes could be induced to accept and sustain it. He there- 
fore tried the art of persuasion, well knowing that to employ 
force with such men w 7 ould only render them the more deter- 
mined. He begged them to accept the decree, assuring them 

16 



202 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

that such an act would be highly gratifying to the emperor. 
But these faithful men acknowledged an authority above 
that of earthly rulers, and they answered calmly, "We will 
obey the emperor in everything that may contribute to 
maintain peace and the honor of God." 

In the presence of the Diet, the king at last announced 
that the decree was about to be published as an imperial 
edict, and that the only course remaining for the elector and 
his friends was to submit to the majority. Having thus 
spoken, he withdrew from the assembly, giving the reformers 
no opportunity for deliberation or reply. In vain they sent 
messengers entreating him to return. To their remonstrances 
he answered only, "It is a settled affair; submission is all 
that remains." 

The imperial party were convinced that the Christian 
princes would adhere to ( the Holy Scriptures as superior to 
human doctrines and requirements; and they knew that 
wherever this principle was accepted, the papacy would 
eventually be overthrown. But, like thousands since their 
time, looking only " at the things which are seen," they flat- 
tered themselves that the cause of the emperor and the pope 
was strong, and that of the reformers weak. Had the re- 
formers depended upon human aid alone, they would have 
been as powerless as the papists supposed. But though 
weak in numbers, and at variance with Rome, they had 
their strength. They appealed from the decision of the 
Diet to the Scriptures of truth, and from the emperor of Ger- 
many to the King of Heaven and earth. 

As Ferdinand had refused to regard their conscientious 
convictions, the princes decided not to heed his absence, but 
to bring their Protest before the national council without 
delay. A solemn declaration was therefore drawn up, and 
presented to the Diet : — 

"We protest by these presents, before God, our only Crea- 
tor, Preserver, Redeemer, and Saviour, and who will one day 
be our Judge, as well as before all men and all creatures, 



PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 203 

that we, for us and our people, neither consent nor adhere in 
any manner whatever to the proposed decree in anything 
that is contrary to God, to his Word, to our right conscience, 
or to the salvation of our souls. . . . We cannot assert 
that when Almighty God calls a man to his knowledge, he 
dare not embrace that divine knowledge. . . . There is 
no true doctrine but that which conforms to the Word of God. 
The Lord forbids the teaching of any other faith. The 
Holy Scriptures, with one text explained by other and 
plainer texts, are, in all things necessary for the Christian, 
easy to be understood, and adapted to enlighten. We are 
therefore resolved by divine grace to maintain the pure 
preaching of God's only Word, as it is contained in the script- 
ures of the Old and New Testaments, without anything' 
added thereto. This word is the only truth. It is the sure 
rule of all doctrine and life, and can never fail or deceive 
us. He who builds on this foundation shall stand against 
all the powers of hell, whilst all the vanities that are set up 
against it shall fall before the face of God." "We therefore 
reject the yoke that is imposed upon us." "At the same 
time we are in expectation that his imperial majesty will 
behave toward us like a Christian prince who loves God 
above all things; and we declare ourselves ready to pay 
unto him, as well as unto you, gracious lords, all the affec- 
tion and obedience that are our just and legitimate duty." 

A deep impression was made upon the Diet. The major- 
ity were rilled with amazement and alarm at the boldness of 
the protesters. The future appeared to them stormy and 
uncertain. Dissension, strife, and bloodshed seemed inevit- 
able. But the reformers, assured of the justice of their 
cause, and relying upon the arm of Omnipotence, were full 
of courage and firmness. 

The Protest denied the right of civil rulers to legislate in 
matters between the soul and God, and declared with proph- 
ets and apostles, "We ought to obey God rather than men." 
It rejected also the arbitrary power of the church, and set 



204 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

forth the unerring principle that all human teaching should 
be in subjection to the oracles of God. The protesters had 
thrown off the yoke of man's supremacy, and had exalted 
Christ as supreme in the church, and his Word in the pulpit. 
The power of conscience was set above the State, and the 
authority of the Holy Scriptures above the visible church. 
The crown of Christ was uplifted above the pope's tiara 
and the emperor's diadem. The protesters had moreover 
affirmed their right to freely utter their convictions of truth. 
They would not only believe and obey, but teach what the 
Word of God presents, and they denied the right of priest 
or magistrate to interfere. The Protest of Spires was a sol- 
emn witness against religious intolerance, and an assertion 
of the right of all men to worship God according to the dic- 
tates of their own consciences. 

The declaration had been made. It was written in the 
memory of thousands, and registered in the books of Heaven, 
where no effort of man could erase it. All evangelical 
Germany adopted the Protest as the expression of its faith. 
Everywhere men beheld in this declaration the promise of a 
new and better era. Said one of the princes to the Prot- 
estants of Spires, "May the Almighty, who has given you 
grace to confess energetically, freely, and fearlessly, preserve 
you in that Christian firmness until the day of eternity." 

PI ad the Reformation, after attaining a degree of success, 
consented to temporize to secure favor with the world, it 
would have been untrue to God and to itself, and would thus 
have insured its own destruction. The experience of those 
noble reformers contains a lesson for all succeeding ages. Sa- 
tan's manner of working against God and his Word has 
not changed ; he is still as much opposed to the Scriptures 
being made the guide of life as in the sixteenth century. In 
our time there is a wide departure from their doctrines and 
precepts, and there is need of a return to the great Prot- 
estant principle, — the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule 
of faith and duty. Satan is still working through every 



r ROT 'F.ST OF THE PRINCES. 205 



means which he can control to destroy religious liberty. 
The antichristian power which the protesters of Spires 
rejected, is now with renewed vigor seeking to re-establish 
its lost supremacy. The same unswerving adherence to the 
Word of God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation, is 
the only hope of reform to-day. 

There appeared tokens of danger to the Protestants. There 
were tokens, also, that the divine hand was stretched out to 
protect the faithful. It was about this time that Melancthon 
hurried his friend Grynseus through the streets of Spires to 
the Rhine, and urged him to cross the river without delay. 
Grynseus, in astonishment, desired to know the reason for 
this sudden flight. Said Melancthon, "An old man of grave - 
and solemn aspect, but who is unknown to me, appeared before 
me, and said, ' In a minute the officers of justice will be 
sent by Ferdinand to arrest Grynseus.'" On the banks of 
the Rhine, Melancthon waited until the waters of that stream 
interposed between his beloved friend and those who sought 
his life. When he saw him on the other side at last, he 
said, "He is torn from the cruel jaws of those who thirst for 
innocent blood." 

Grynseus had been on intimate terms with a leading papist 
doctor; but, having been shocked at one of his sermons, he 
w T ent to him, and entreated that he would no longer war 
against the truth. The papist concealed his anger, but im- 
mediately repaired to the king, and obtained from him 
authority to arrest the protester. When Melancthon re- 
turned to his house, he was informed that after his depart- 
ure officers in pursuit of Grynseus had searched it from top 
to bottom. He ever believed that the Lord had saved his 
friend by sending a holy angel to give him warning. 

The Reformation was to be brought into greater prom- 
inence before the mighty ones of the earth. The evangelical 
princes had been denied a hearing by King Ferdinand; but 
they were to be granted an opportunity to present their 
cause in the presence of the emperor and the assembled 



206 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



dignitaries of Church and State. To quiet the dissensions 
which disturbed the empire, Charles V., in the year follow- 
ing the Protest of Spires, convoked a Diet at Augsburg, over 
which he announced his intention to preside in person. 
Thither the Protestant leaders were summoned. 

Great dangers threatened the Reformation ; but its advo- 
cates still trusted their cause with God, and pledged them- 
selves to be firm to the gospel. The Elector of Saxony was 
urged by his councillors not to appear at the Diet. The 
emperor, they said, required the attendance of the princes 
in order to draw them into a snare. " Was it not risking 
everything to shut oneself up within the walls of a city with 
a powerful enemy?" But others nobly declared, "Let the 
princes only comport themselves with courage, and God's 
cause is saved." "Our God is faithful; he will not abandon 
us," said Luther. The elector set out, with his retinue, for 
Augsburg. All were acquainted with the dangers that 
menaced him, and many went forward with gloomy counte- 
nance and troubled heart. But Luther — who accompanied 
them as far as Coburg — revived their sinking faith by sing- 
ing the hymn, written on that journey, — "A strong tower is 
our God." Many an anxious foreboding was banished, 
many a heavy heart lightened, at the sound of the inspiring 
strains. 

The reformed princes had determined upon having a 
statement of their views in systematic form, with the evi- 
dence from the Scriptures, to present before the Diet; and 
the task of its preparation was committed to Luther, Melanc- 
thon, and their associates. This Confession was accepted by 
the Protestants as an exposition of their faith, and they 
assembled to affix their names to the important document. 
It was a solemn and trying time. The reformers were solic- 
itous that their cause should not be confounded with polit- 
ical questions; they felt that the Reformation should exer- 
cise no other influence than that which proceeds from 
the Word of God. As the Christian princes advanced to 



PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 207 

sign tin 1 Confession, Melancthon interposed, saying, li It is 
for the theologians and ministers to propose these tilings, 
while the authority of the mighty ones of earth is to be 
reserved for other matters." "God forbid," replied John of 
Saxony, "that you should exclude me. I am resolved to 
do my duty, without being troubled about my crown. I 
desire to confess the Lord. My electoral hat and robes are 
not so precious to me as the cross of Jesus Christ." Having 
thus spoken he wrote down his name. Said another of the 
princes as he took the pen, " If the honor of my Lord Jesus 
Christ requires it, I am ready to leave my goods and life 
behind me." " Rather would I renounce my subjects and 
my States, rather would I quit the country of my fathers, 
staff in hand," he continued, " than to receive any other doc- 
trine than is contained in this Confession." Such was the 
faith and daring of those men of God. 

The appointed time came to appear before the emperor. 
Charles Y., seated upon his throne, surrounded by the 
electors and the princes, gave audience to the Protestant re- 
formers. The confession of their faith was read. In that au- 
gust assembly the truths of the gospel were clearly set forth, 
and the errors of the papal church were pointed out. Well 
has that day been pronounced " the greatest day of the Refor- 
mation, and one of the most glorious in the history of Chris- 
tianity and of the world." 

But a few years had passed since the monk of Witten- 
berg stood alone at Worms before the national council. 
Now in his stead were the noblest and most powerful princes 
of the empire. Luther had been forbidden to appear at 
Augsburg, but he had been present by his words and 
prayers. " I thrill with joy," he wrote, " that I have lived until 
this hour, in which Christ has been publicly exalted by such 
illustrious confessors, and in so glorious an assembly. Herein 
is fulfilled what the Scripture saith, ' I will declare thy testi- 
mony in the presence of kings.'" 

In the days of Paul, the gospel for which he was impris- 



208 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

oned was thus brought before the princes and nobles of 
the imperial city. So on this occasion, "that which the em- 
peror had forbidden to be preached from the pulpit, was pro- 
claimed in the palace; what many had regarded as unfit 
even for servants to listen to, was heard with w T onder by the 
masters and lords of the empire. Kings and great men 
were the auditory, crowned princes were the preachers, and 
the sermon was the royal truth of God." "Since the apos- 
tolic age," says a writer, "there has never been a greater 
work, or a more magnificent confession of Jesus Christ." 

"All that the Lutherans have said is true, and we cannot 
deny it," declared a papist bishop. " Can you by sound rea- 
sons refute the Confession made by the elector and his 
allies?" asked another, of Doctor Eck. "Not with the writ- 
ings of the apostles and prophets," was the reply; "but with 
the Fathers and councils I can." "I understand, then," 
responded the questioner, " that the Lutherans are entrenched 
in the Scriptures, and we are only outside." Some of the 
princes of Germany were won to the reformed faith. The 
emperor himself declared that the Protestant articles were 
but the truth. The Confession was translated into many 
languages, and circulated through all Europe, and it has 
• been accepted by millions in succeeding generations as the 
expression of their faith. 

God's faithful servants were not toiling alone. While 
"principalities and powers and wicked spirits in high places" 
were leagued against them, the Lord did not forsake his 
people. Could their eyes have been opened, they would 
have seen as marked evidence of divine presence and aid 
as w T as granted to a prophet of old. When Elisha's servant 
pointed his master to the hostile army surrounding them, 
and cutting off all opportunity for escape, the prophet prayed, 
"Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see." 1 And, 
lo, the mountain was filled with chariots and horses of fire, the 
army of Heaven stationed to protect the man of God. Thus 
did angels guard the workers in the cause of the Reformation. 

l 2 Kings 6: 17. 



PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 20!) 

One of the principles most firmly maintained by Luther 
was that there should be no resort to secular power in sup- 
port of the Reformation, and no appeal to arms for its de- 
fense. He rejoiced that the gospel was confessed by princes 
of the empire; but when they proposed to unite in a defensive 
league, he declared that " the doctrine of the gospel should 
be defended by God alone. The less men meddle in the 
work, the more striking would be God's intervention in its 
behalf. All the political precautions suggested w y ere, in his 
view, attributable to unworthy fear and sinful mistrust," 

When powerful foes were uniting to overthrow the re- 
formed faith, and thousands of swords seemed about to be 
unsheathed against it, Luther wrote: "Satan is raging; 
ungodly priests take counsel together, and we are threatened 
with war. Exhort the people to contend earnestly before 
the throne of the Lord, by faith and prayer, that our adver- 
saries, being overcome by the Spirit of God, may be con- 
strained to peace. The most urgent of our wants — the very 
first thing we have to do, is to pray; let the people know 
that they are at this hour exposed to the edge of the sword 
and the rage of the devil; let them pray." 

Again, at a later date, referring to the league contemplated 
by the reformed princes, he declared that the only weapon 
employed in this warfare should be "the sword of the 
Spirit." He wrote to the Elector of Saxony: "We cannot 
in our conscience approve of the proposed alliance. Our 
Lord Christ is mighty enough and can well find ways and 
means to rescue us from danger, and bring the thoughts of 
the ungodly princes to nothing. . . . Christ is only try- 
ing us wdiether we are willing to obey his w r ord or no, and 
whether Ave hold it for certain truth or not. We would 
rather die ton times over than that the gospel should be a 
cause of blood or hurt by any act of ours. Let us rather 
patiently suffer, and, as the psalmist says, be accounted as 
sheep for the slaughter; and instead of avenging or defend- 
ing ourselves, leave room for God's wrath." "The cross of 



210 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Christ must be borne. Let your highness be without fear. 
We shall do more by our prayers than all our enemies by 
their boastings. Only let not your hands be stained witli 
the blood of your brethren. If the emperor requires us to 
be given up to his tribunals, we are ready to appear. You 
cannot defend the faith; each one should believe at his own 
risk and peril." 

From the secret place of prayer came the power that shook 
the world in the Great Reformation. There, with holy calm- 
ness, the servants of the Lord set their feet upon the rock of 
his promises. During the struggle at Augsburg, Luther did 
not fail to devote three hours each day to prayer; and these 
were taken from that portion of the day most favorable to 
study. In the privacy of his chamber he was heard to 
pour out his soul before God in words full of adoration, 
fear, and hope, as if speaking to a friend. " I know that 
thou art our Father and our God," he said, "and that thou 
wilt scatter the persecutors of thy children , for thou art thy- 
self endangered with us. All this matter is thine, and it is 
only by thy constraint that we have put our hands to it. 
Defend us, then, Father!" To Melancthon, who was 
crushed under the burden of anxiety and fear, he wrote. 
"Grace and peace in Christ! In Christ, I say,' and not in the 
world, Amen! I hate with exceeding hatred those extreme 
cares which consume you. If the cause is unjust, abandon 
it; if the cause is just, w r hy should we belie the promises of 
Him who commands us to sleep without fear?" "Christ 
will not be wanting to the work of justice and truth. He 
lives, he reigns; what fear, then, can we have?" 

God did listen to the cries of his servants. He gave to 
princes and ministers grace and courage to maintain the 
truth against the rulers of the darkness of this world. 
Saith the Lord, " Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, 
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be 
confounded." l The Protestant reformers had built on Christ, 
and the gates of hell could not prevail against them, 

1 1 Peter 2 : 6, 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 

The Protest of Spires and the Confession at Augsburg, 
which marked the triumph of the Reformation in Germany, 
were followed by years of conflict and darkness. Weakened 
by divisions among its supporters, and assailed by powerful 
foes, Protestantism seemed destined to be utterly destroyed. 
Thousands sealed their testimony with their blood. Civil 
war broke out; the Protestant cause was betrayed by one of 
its leading adherents; the noblest of the reformed princes 
fell into the hands of the emperor, and were dragged as 
captives from town to town. But in the moment of his 
apparent triumph, the emperor was smitten with defeat. 
He saw the prey wrested from his grasp, and he was forced 
at last to grant toleration to the doctrines which it had been 
the ambition of his life to destroy. He had staked his king- 
dom, his treasures, and life itself, upon the crushing out of 
the heresy. Now he saw his armies wasted by battle, his 
treasuries drained, his many kingdoms threatened by revolt, 
while every where the faith which he had vainly endeavored 
to suppress, was extending. Charles V. had been battling 
against omnipotent power. God had said, "Let there be 
light," but the emperor had sought to keep the darkness 
unbroken. His purposes had failed, and in premature old 
age, worn out with the long struggle, he abdicated the 
throne, and buried himself in a cloister. 

In Switzerland, as in Germany, there came dark days for 
the Reformation. While many cantons accepted the re- 
formed faith, others clung with blind persistence to the 
creed of Rome. Their persecution of those who desired to 
receive the truth, finally gave rise ' to civil war. Zwingle 

(211) 



212 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



and many who had united with him in reform, fell on the 
bloody field of Cappel. (Ecolampadius, overcome by these 
terrible disasters, soon after died. Rome was triumphant, 
and in many places seemed about to recover all that she had 
lost. But He whose counsels are from everlasting had not 
forsaken his cause or his people. His hand would bring 
deliverance for them. In other lands he had raised up 
laborers to carry forward the reform. 

In France, before the name of Luther had been heard as 
a reformer, the day had already begun to break. One of 
the first to catch the light was the aged Lefevre, a man of 
extensive learning, a professor in the University of Paris, 
and a sincere and zealous papist. In his researches into 
ancient literature his attention was directed to the Bible, 
and he introduced its study among his students. Lefevre 
was an enthusiastic adorer of the saints, and he had under- 
taken to prepare a history of the saints and martyrs as 
given in the legends of the church. This was a work 
which involved great labor, but he had already made con- 
siderable progress in it, when, thinking that he might obtain 
useful assistance from the Bible, he began its study with 
this object. Here indeed he found saints brought to view, 
but not such as figured in the Romish calendar. A flood of 
divine light broke in upon his mind. In amazement and 
disgust he turned away from his self-appointed task, and 
devoted himself to the Word of God. The precious truths 
which he there discovered, he soon began to teach. In 1512, 
before either Luther or Zwingle had begun the work of 
reform, Lefevre wrote: "It is God who gives us, by faith, 
that righteousness which by grace justifies unto eternal life." 
Dwelling upon the mysteries of redemption, he exclaimed, 
"Oh, the unspeakable greatness of that exchange, — the Sin- 
less One is condemned, and he who is guilty goes free, the 
Blessing bears the curse, and the curse is brought into bless- 
ing ; the Life dies, and the dead live ; the Glory is whelmed 
in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of face 
is clothed with glory." 



THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 213 



And while teaching that the glory of salvation belongs 

solely to God, he also declared that the duty of obedience 

belongs to man. "If thou art a member of Christ's church," 
<? ... 

he said, "thou art a member of his body; if thou art of his 

body, then thou art full of the divine nature." "Oh, if men 

could but enter into the understanding of this privilege, 

how purely, chastely, and holily, would they live, and how 

contemptible, when compared with the glory within them, — 

that glory which the eye of flesh cannot see, — would they 

deem all the glory of this world." 

There were some among Lefevre's students who listened 
eagerly to his words, and who, long after the teacher's voice 
should be silenced, were to continue to declare the truth. 
Such was William Farel. The son of pious parents, and 
educated to accept with implicit faith the teachings of the 
church, he might, with the apostle Paul, have declared con- 
cerning himself, "After the most straitest sect of our religion 
I lived a Pharisee." x A devoted Romanist, he burned with 
zeal to destroy all who should dare to oppose the church. 
" I would gnash my teeth like a furious wolf," he afterward 
said, referring to this period of his life, "when I heard any 
one speaking against the pope." He had been untiring in 
his adoration of the saints, in company with Lefevre making 
the round of the churches of Paris, worshiping at the altars, 
and adorning with gifts the holy shrines. But these observ- 
ances could not bring peace of soul. Conviction of sin 
fastened upon him, which all the acts of penance that he 
practiced, failed to banish. As a voice from Heaven, he 
listened to the reformer's words: "Salvation is of grace. 
The Innocent One is condemned, and the criminal is acquit- 
ted." " It is the cross of Christ alone that openeth the gates 
of Heaven, and shutteth the gates of hell." 

Farel joyfully accepted the truth. By a conversion like 
that of Paul, he turned from the bondage of tradition to the 
liberty of the sons of God. " Instead of the murderous heart 
of a ravening wolf," he came back, he says, "quietly, like a 

i Acts 26 : 5. 



214 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



meek and harmless lamb, having his heart entirely with- 
drawn from the pope, and given to Jesus Christ." 

While Lefevre continued to spread the light among his 
students, Farel, as zealous in the cause of Christ as he had 
been in that of the pope, went forth to declare the truth in 
public. A dignitary of the church, the bishop of Meux, soon 
after united with them. Other teachers who ranked high 
for their ability and learning, joined in proclaiming the 
gospel, and it won adherents among all classes, from the 
homes of artisans and peasants to the palace of the king. 
The sister of Francis I., then the reigning monarch, accepted 
the reformed faith. The king himself, and the queen mother, 
appeared for a time to regard it with favor, and with high 
hopes the reformers looked forward to the time when France 
should be won to the gospel. 

But their hopes were not to be realized. Trial and per- 
secution awaited the disciples of Christ. This, however, 
was mercifully veiled from their eyes. A time of peace 
intervened, that they might gain strength to meet the tempest; 
and the Reformation made rapid progress. The bishop of 
Meux labored zealously in his own diocese to instruct both 
the clergy and the people. Ignorant and immoral priests 
were removed, and, so far as possible, replaced by men of 
learning and piety. The bishop greatly desired that his 
people might have access to the Word of God for themselves, 
and this was soon accomplished. Lefevre undertook the 
translation of the New Testament, and at the very time 
when Luther's German Bible was issuing from the press in 
Wittenberg, the French New Testament was published at 
Meux. The bishop spared no labor or expense to circulate 
it among his parishes, and soon the peasants of Meux were 
in possession of the Holy Scriptures. 

As travelers perishing from thirst welcome with joy a 
living water-spring, so did these souls receive the message of 
Heaven. The laborers in the field, the artisans in the work- 
shop, cheered their daily toil by talking of the precious 



THE FRENCH REFORMA TION. 215 

truths of the Bible. At evening, instead of resorting to the 
wine shops, they assembled in each other's homes to read 
God's "Word and join in prayer and praise. A great change 
was soon manifest in these communities. Though belong- 
ing to the humblest class, an unlearned and hard-working 
peasantry, the reforming, uplifting power of divine grace was 
seen in their lives. Humble, loving, and holy, they stood as 
witnesses to what the gospel will accomplish for those who 
receive it in sincerity. 

The light kindled at Meux shed its beams afar. Every 
day the number of converts was increasing. The rage of 
the hierarchy was for a time held in check by the king, who 
despised the narrow bigotry of the monks ; but the papist 
leaders finally prevailed. Xow the stake was set up. The 
bishop of Meux, forced to choose between the fire and recan- 
tation, accepted the easier path; but notwithstanding the 
leader's fall, his flock remained steadfast. Many witnessed 
for the truth amid the flames. By their courage and fidelity 
at the stake, these humble Christians spoke to thousands 
who in clays of peace had never heard their testimony. 

It was not alone the humble and the poor, that amid 
suffering and scorn dared to bear witness for Christ. In the 
lordly halls of the castle and the palace, there were kingly 
souls by whom truth was valued above wealth or rank or 
even life. Knightly armor concealed a loftier and more 
steadfast spirit than did the bishop's robe and mitre. Louis 
de Berquin was of noble birth. A brave and courtly knight, 
he was devoted to study, polished in manners, and of blame- 
less morals. " He was," says a writer, " a great follower of 
the papistical constitutions, and a great hearer of masses 
and sermons." "And he crowned all his other virtues by 
holding Lutheranism in special abhorrence." But, like so 
many others, providentially guided to the Bible, he was 
amazed to find there, not the teachings of popery but the 
doctrines of Luther. Henceforth he gave himself, with, 
entire devotion, to the cause of the gospel. 
17 



216 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

"The most learned of the nobles of France," his genius 
and eloquence, his indomitable courage and heroic zeal, and 
his influence at court— for he was a favorite, with the king — 
caused him to be regarded by many as one destined to be the 
reformer of his country. Said Beza, " Berquin would have 
been a second Luther, had he found in Francis I. a second 
elector." "He is worse than Luther," cried the papists. 
More dreaded he was indeed by the Romanists of France. 
They thrust him in prison as a heretic, but he was set at 
liberty by the king. For years the struggle continued. 
Francis, wavering between Rome and the Reformation, 
alternately tolerated and restrained the fierce zeal of the 
monks. Berquin was three times imprisoned by the papist 
authorities, only to be released by the monarch, who, in 
admiration of his genius and his nobility of character, 
refused to sacrifice him to the malice of the hierarchy. 

Berquin was repeatedly warned of the danger that threat- 
ened him in France, and urged to follow the steps of those 
who had found safety in voluntary exile. The timid and 
time-serving Erasmus — who with all the splendor of his 
scholarship failed of that moral greatness which holds life 
and honor subservient to truth — wrote to Berquin: "Ask to 
be sent as ambassador to some foreign -country; go and 
travel in Germany. You know Beda and such as he — he is 
a thousand-headed monster, darting venom on every side. 
Your enemies are named legion. Were your cause better 
than that of Jesus Christ, they will not let you go till they 
have miserably destroyed you. Do not trust too much to 
the king's protection. At all events, do not compromise me 
with the faculty of theology." 

But as dangers thickened, Berquin 's zeal only waxed the 
stronger. So far from adopting the politic and self-serving 
counsel of Erasmus, he determined upon still bolder meas- 
ures. He would not only stand in defense of the truth, but 
he would attack error. The charge of heresy which the 
Romanists were seeking to fasten upon him, he would rivet 



THE FRENCH REFORMA TION. 217 

upon them. The most active and bitter of his opponents 
were the learned doctors and monks of the theological 
department in the great university of Paris, one of the high- 
est ecclesiastical authorities' both in the city and the nation. 
From the writings of these doctors, Berquin drew twelve 
propositions which he publicly declared to be contrary to 
the Bible, and therefore heretical; and he appealed to the 
king to act as judge in the controversy. 

The monarch, not loth to bring in contrast the power and 
acuteness of the opposing champions, and glad of an oppor- 
tunity of humbling the pride of these haughty monks, bade 
the Romanists defend their cause by the Bible. This weapon, 
they well knew, would avail them little ; imprisonment, tort- 
ure, and the stake were arms which they better understood 
to wield. Now the tables were turned, and they saw them- 
selves about to fall into the pit into which they had hoped 
to plunge Berquin. In amazement they looked about them 
for some way of escape. 

Just at this time an image of the virgin, standing at the 
corner of one of the public streets, was found mutilated. 
There was great excitement in the city. Crowds of people 
flocked to the place, with expressions of mourning and 
indignation. The king also was deeply moved. Here was 
an advantage which the monks could turn to good account, 
and they were quick to improve it. " These are the fruits 
of the doctrines of Berquin," they cried. "All is about to be 
overthrown, — religion, the laws, the throne itself, — by this 
Lutheran conspiracy." 

Again Berquin was apprehended. The king withdrew 
from Paris, and the monks were thus left free to work their 
will. The reformer was tried, and condemned to die, and lest 
Francis should even yet interpose to save him, the sentence 
was executed on the very day it was pronounced. At noon 
Berquin was conducted to the place of death. An immense 
throng gathered to witness the event, and there were many 
who saw with astonishment and misgiving that the victim 



218 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

had been chosen from the best and bravest of the noble 
families of France. Amazement, indignation, scorn, and 
bitter hatred darkened the faces of that surging crowd; but 
upon one face no shadow rested. The martyr's thoughts 
were far from that scene of tumult ; he was conscious only 
of the presence of his Lord. 

The wretched tumbril upon which he rode, the frowning 
faces of his persecutors, the dreadful death to which he was 
going, — these he heeded not; He who liveth and was 
dead, and is alive forevermore, and hath the keys of death 
and of hell, w T as beside him. Berquin's countenance was 
radiant with the light and peace of Heaven. He had 
attired himself in goodly raiment, wearing "a cloak of 
velvet, a doublet of satin and damask, and golden hose." 
He was about to testify to his faith in presence of the King 
of kings and the witnessing universe, and no token of 
mourning should belie his joy. 

As the procession moved slowly through the crowded 
streets, the people marked with wonder the unclouded peace, 
the joyous triumph, of his look and bearing. "He is," they 
said, " like one who sits in a temple, and meditates on holy 
things." 

At the stake, Berquin endeavored to address a few words 
to the people, but the monks, fearing the result, began to 
shout, and the soldiers to clash their arms, and their clamor 
drowned the martyr's voice. Thus in 1529, the highest 
literary and ecclesiastical authority of cultured Paris "set 
the populace of 1793 the base example of stifling on the 
scaffold the sacred words of the dying." 

Berquin was strangled, and his body was consumed in 
the flames. The tidings of his death caused sorrow to the 
friends of the Reformation throughout France. But his 
example was not lost. " We too are ready," said the wit- 
nesses for the truth, "to meet death cheerfully, setting our 
eyes on the life that is to come." 

During the persecution at Meux, the teachers of the 



THE FRENCH REFORMA TION. 219 

reformed faith were deprived of their license to preach, and 
they departed to other fields. Lefevre after a time made his 
way to Germany. Farel returned to his native town in East- 
ern France, to spread the light in the home of his childhood. 
Already tidings had been received of what was going on at 
Meux, and the truth, which he taught with fearless zeal, 
found listeners. Soon the authorities were roused to silence 
him, and he was banished from the city. Though he could 
no longer labor publicly, he traversed the plains and vil- 
lages, teaching in private dwellings and in secluded mead- 
ows, and finding shelter in the forests and among the rocky 
caverns which had been his haunts in boyhood. God was 
preparing him for greater trials. " Crosses, persecution, and 
the lying-in-wait of Satan, of which I had intimation, were 
not wanting," he said ; " they were even much more than I 
could have borne in my own strength; but God is my 
Father; he has ministered, and w T ill forever minister, to me 
all needful strength." 

As in apostolic days, persecution r^ad " fallen out rather 
unto the furtherance of the gospel." l Driven from Paris and 
Meux, "they that were scattered abroad went everywhere 
preaching the Word." 2 And thus the light found its way 
into many of the remote provinces of France. 

God was still preparing workers to extend his cause. In 
one of the schools of Paris was a thoughtful, quiet youth, 
already giving evidence of a powerful and penetrating mind, 
and no less marked for the blamelessness of his life than for 
intellectual ardor and religious devotion. His genius and 
application soon made him the pride of the college, and it 
was confidently anticipated that John Calvin would become 
one of the ablest and most honored defenders of the church. 
But a ray of divine light penetrated even within the walls 
of scholasticism and superstition by which Calvin was 
inclosed. He heard of the new doctrines with a shudder, 
nothing doubting that the heretics deserved the fire to which 

1 Phil. 1:12. 2 Acts 8: 4. 



220 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

they were given. Yet all unwittingly he was brought face 
to face with the heresy, and forced to test the power of Rom- 
ish theology to combat the Protestant teaching. 

A cousin of Calvin's, who had joined the reformers, was in 
Paris. The two kinsmen often met, and discussed together 
the matters that were disturbing Christendom. " There are 
but two religions in the world," said Olivetan, the Protestant. 
"The one class of religions are those which men have 
invented, in all of which man saves himself by ceremonies 
and good works; the other is that one religion which is 
revealed in the Bible, and which teaches men to look for 
salvation solely to the free grace of God." " I will have 
none of your new doctrines," exclaimed Calvin ; " think you 
that I have lived in error all my days?" 

But thoughts had been awakened in his mind which he- 
could not banish at will. Alone in his chamber he pon- 
dered upon his cousin's words. Conviction of sin fastened 
upon him ; he saw himself, without an intercessor, in the 
presence of a holy and just Judge. The mediation of saints, 
good works, the ceremonies of the church, all were powerless 
to atone for sin. He could see before him nothing but the 
blackness of eternal despair. In vain the doctors of the 
church endeavored to relieve his woe. Confession, penance, 
were resorted to in vain ; they could not reconcile the soul 
with God. 

While still engaged in these fruitless struggles, Calvin, 
chancing one day to visit one of the public squares, wit- 
nessed there the burning of a heretic. He was filled with 
wonder at the expression of peace which rested upon the 
martyr's countenance. Amid the tortures of that dreadful 
death, and under the more terrible condemnation of the 
church, he manifested a faith and courage which the young 
student painfully contrasted with his own despair and 
darkness, while living in strictest obedience to the church. 
Upon the Bible, he knew, the heretics rested their faith. He 
determined to study it, and discover, if he could, the secret 
of their joy. 



THE FRENCH REFORMATION". 221 

In the Bible lie found Christ. " Father," he cried, " his 
sacrifice has appeased thy wrath; his blood has washed 
away my impurities; his cross has borne my curse; his death 
has atoned for me. We had devised for ourselves many use- 
less follies, but thou hast placed thy Word before me like a 
torch, and thou hast touched my heart, in order that I may 
hold in abomination all other merits save those of Jesus." 

Calvin had been educated for the priesthood. When 
only twelve years of age he had been appointed to the 
chaplaincy of a small church, and his head had been shorn 
by the bishop in accordance with the canon of the church. 
He did not receive consecration, nor did he fulfill the duties 
of a priest, but he became a member of the clergy, holding 
the title of his office, and receiving an allowance in consider- 
ation thereof. 

Now, feeling that he could never become a priest, he 
turned for a time to the study of law, but finally abandoned 
this purpose, and determined to devote his life to the gospel. 
But he hesitated to become a public teacher. He was nat- 
urally timid, and was burdened with a sense of the weighty 
responsibility of the position, and he desired to still devote 
himself to study. The earnest entreaties of his friends, how- 
ever, at last won his consent. "Wonderful it is," he said, 
" that one of so lowly an origin should be exalted to so great 
dignity." 

Quietly did Calvin enter upon his work, and his words 
were as the dew falling to refresh the earth. He had left 
Paris, and was now in a provincial town under the protection 
of the princess Margaret, who, loving the gospel, extended 
her protection to its disciples. Calvin was still a youth, of 
gentle, unpretentious bearing. His work began with the 
people at their homes. Surrounded by the members of the 
household, he read the Bible, and opened the truths of salva- 
tion. Those who heard the message, carried the good news 
to others, and soon the teacher passed beyond the city to the 
outlying towns and hamlets. To both the castle and the 



THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



cabin he found entrance, and he went forward, laying the 
foundation of churches that were to yield fearless witnesses 
for the truth. 

A few months and he was again in Paris. There was 
unwonted agitation in the circle of learned men and schol- 
ars. The study of the ancient languages had led men to 
the Bible, and many whose hearts were untouched by its 
truths were eagerly discussing them, and even giving battle 
to the champions of Romanism. Calvin, though an able 
combatant in the fields of theological controversy, had a 
higher mission to accomplish than that of these noisy school- 
men. The minds of men were stirred, and now was the 
time to open to them the truth. While the halls of the uni- 
versities were filled with the clamor of theological disputa- 
tion, Calvin was making his way from house to house, 
opening the Bible to the people, and speaking to them of 
Christ and him crucified. 

In God's providence, Paris was to receive another invita- 
tion to accept the gospel. The call of Lefevre and Farel 
had been rejected, but again the message was to be heard 
by all classes in that great capital. The king, influenced by 
political considerations, had not yet fully sided with Pome 
against the Reformation. Margaret still clung to the hope 
that Protestantism was to triumph in France. She resolved 
that the reformed faith should be preached in Paris. Dur- 
ing the absence of the king, she ordered a Protestant min- 
ister to preach in the churches of the city. This being for- 
bidden by the papal dignitaries, the princess threw open the 
palace. An apartment was fitted up as a chapel, and it was 
announced that every day, at a specified hour, a sermon 
would be preached, and the people of every rank and sta- 
tion were invited to attend. Crowds flocked to the service. 
Not only the chapel, but the ante-chambers and halls were 
thronged. Thousands every day assembled, — nobles, states- 
men, lawyers, merchants, and artisans. The king, instead of 
forbidding the assemblies, ordered that two of the churches 
of Paris should be opened. Never before had the city been 



THE FRENCH REFORMA TIOJST. 223 

so moved by the Word of God. The spirit of life from 
Heaven seemed to be breathed upon the people. Temper- 
ance, purity, order, and industry were taking the place of 
drunkenness, licentiousness, strife, and idleness. 

But the hierarchy were not idle. The king still refused 
to interfere to stop the preaching, and they turned to the 
populace. No means were spared to excite the fears, the 
prejudices, and the fanaticism of the ignorant and supersti- 
tious multitudes. Yielding blindly to her false teachers, 
Paris, like Jerusalem of old, knew not the time of her visita- 
tion, nor the things which belonged unto her peace. For 
two years the Word of God was preached in the capital ; but 
while there were many who accepted the gospel, the majority 
of the people rejected it. Francis had made a show of toler- 
ation, merely to serve his own purposes, and the papists suc- 
ceeded in regaining the ascendency. Again the churches 
were closed, and the stake was set up. 

Calvin was still in Paris, preparing himself by study, 
meditation, and prayer, for his future labors, and continuing 
to spread the light. At last, however, suspicion fastened 
upon him. The authorities determined to bring him to the 
flames. Regarding himself as secure in his seclusion, he 
had no thought of danger, when friends came hurrying to 
his room with the news that officers were on their way to 
arrest him. At the instant a loud knocking was heard at 
the outer entrance. There was not a moment to be lost. 
Some of his friends detained the officers at the door, while 
others assisted the reformer to let himself down from a 
window, and he rapidly made his way to the outskirts of the 
city. Finding shelter in the cottage of a laborer who was a 
friend to the reform, he disguised himself in the garments 
of his host, and, shouldering a hoe, started on his journey. 
Traveling southward he again found refuge in the domin- 
ions of Margaret. 

Here for a few months he remained, safe under the pro- 
tection of powerful friends, and engaged, as before, in study. 
But his heart was set upon the evangelization of France, and 



224 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, 

he could not long remain inactive. As soon as the storm 
had somewhat abated, he sought a new field of labor in 
Poitiers, where was a university, and where already the 
new opinions had found favor. Persons of all classes gladly 
listened to the gospel. There was no public preaching, but 
in the home of the chief magistrate, in his own lodgings, 
and sometimes in a public garden, Calvin opened the words 
of eternal life to those who desired to listen. After a time, 
as the number of hearers increased, it was thought safer to 
assemble outside the city. A cave in the side of a deep 
and narrow gorge, where trees and overhanging rocks made 
the seclusion still more complete, was chosen as the place of 
meeting. Little companies, leaving the city by different 
routes, found their way. hither. In this retired spot the Bible 
was read and explained. Here the Lord's Supper was cele- 
brated for the first time by the Protestants of France. From 
this little church several faithful evangelists were sent out. 

Once more Calvin returned to Paris. He could not even 
yet relinquish the hope that France as a nation would 
accept the Reformation. But he found almost every door 
of labor closed. To teach the gospel was to take the direct 
road to the stake, and he at last determined to depart to 
Germany. Scarcely had he left France when a storm burst 
over the Protestants, that, had he remained, must surely 
have involved him in the general ruin. 

The French reformers, eager to see their country keeping 
pace with Germany and Switzerland, determined to strike a 
bold blow against the superstitions of Rome, that should 
arouse the whole nation. Accordingly placards attacking 
the mass were in one night posted all over France. Instead 
of advancing the reform, this zealous but ill-judged move- 
ment brought ruin, not only upon its propagators, but 
upon the friends of the reformed faith throughout France. 
It gave the Romanists what they had long desired, — a 
pretext for demanding the utter destruction of the heretics 
as agitators dangerous to the stability of the throne and 
the peace of the nation. 



THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 225 

By some secret hand — whether of indiscreet friend or wily 
foe was never known — one of the placards was attached to 
the door of the king's private chamber. The monarch was 
filled with horror. In this paper, superstitions that had 
received the veneration of ages were attacked with an un- 
sparing hand. And the unexampled boldness of obtruding 
these plain and startling utterances into the royal presence, 
aroused the wrath of the king. In his amazement he stood 
for a little time trembling and speechless. Then his rage 
found utterance in the terrible words : " Let all be seized ; 
and let Lutheranism be totally exterminated." The die was 
cast. The king had determined to throw himself fully on 
the side of Rome. 

Measures were at once taken for the arrest of every Lu- 
theran in Paris. A poor artisan, an adherent of the reformed 
faith, who had been accustomed to summon the believers 
to their secret assemblies, was seized; and with the threat of 
instant death at the stake, was commanded to conduct the 
papist emissary to the home of every Protestant in the city. 
He shrunk in horror from the base proposal, but at last fear 
of the flames prevailed, and he consented to become the 
betrayer of his brethren. Preceded by the host, and sur- 
rounded by a train of priests, incense-bearers, monks, and 
soldiers, Morin, the royal detective, with the traitor, slowly 
and silently passed through the streets of the city. The 
demonstration was ostensibly in honor of the "holy sacra- 
ment," an act of expiation for the insult put upon the mass 
by the protesters. But beneath this pageant a deadly pur- 
pose was concealed. On arriving opposite the house of a 
Lutheran, the betrayer made a sign, but no word was uttered. 
The procession halted, the house was entered, the family were 
dragged forth and chained, and the terrible company went 
forward in search of fresh victims. " No house was spared, 
great or small, not even the colleges of the University of 
Paris. Morin made the whole city quake." " The reign of 
terror had begun." 

The victims were put to death with cruel torture, it being 



226 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

specially ordered that the fire should be lowered, in order to 
prolong their agony. But they died as conquerors. Their 
constancy was unshaken, their peace unclouded. Their per- 
secutors, powerless to move their inflexible firmness, felt 
themselves defeated. "The scaffolds were distributed over 
all the quarters of Paris, and the burnings followed on suc- 
cessive days, the design being to spread the terror of heresy 
by spreading the executions. The advantage, however, in 
the end, remained with the gospel. All Paris was enabled 
to see what kind of men the new opinions could produce. 
There is no pulpit like the martyr's pile. The serene joy 
that lighted up the faces of these men as they passed along 
to the place of execution, their heroism as they stood amid 
the bitter flames, their meek forgiveness of injuries, trans- 
formed, in instances not a few, anger into pity, and hate into 
love, and pleaded with resistless eloquence in behalf of the 
gospel." 

The priests, bent upon keeping the popular fury at its 
height, circulated the most- terrible accusations against the 
Protestants. They were charged with plotting to massacre 
the Catholics, to overthrow the government, and to murder 
the king. Not a shadow of evidence could be produced in 
support of the allegations. Yet these prophecies of evil were 
to have a fulfillment; under far different circumstances, 
however, and from causes of an opposite character. The 
cruelties that were inflicted upon the innocent Protestants by 
the Catholics accumulated in a weight of retribution, and in 
after-centuries wrought the very doom they had predicted 
to be impending, upon the king, his government, and sub- 
jects; but it was brought about by infidels, and by the papists 
themselves. It was not the establishment, but the suppres- 
sion of Protestantism, that, three hundred years later, was 
to bring upon France these dire calamities. 

Suspicion, distrust, and terror now pervaded all classes of 
society. Amid the general alarm it was seen how deep a hold 
the Lutheran teaching had gained upon the minds of men 



THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 



who stood highest for education, influence, and excellence of 

character. Positions of trust and honor were suddenly found 
vacant. Artisans, printers, scholars, professors in the uni- 
versities, authors, and even courtiers, disappeared. Hundreds 
fled from Paris, self-constituted exiles from their native land, 
in many cases thus giving the first intimation that they 
favored the reformed faith. The papists looked about them 
in amazement at thought of the unsuspected heretics that 
had been tolerated among them. Their rage spent itself 
upon the multitudes of humbler victims who were within 
their power. The prisons were crowded, and the very air 
seemed darkened with the smoke of burning piles, kindled 
for the confessors of the gospel. 

Francis I. had gloried in being a leader in the great 
movement for the revival of learning which marked the 
opening of the sixteenth century. He had delighted to 
gather at his court men of letters from every country. To 
his love of learning and his contempt for the ignorance and 
superstition of the monks was due, in part, at least, the degree 
of toleration that had been granted to the reform. But, 
inspired with zeal to stamp out heresy, this patron of learn- 
ing issued an edict declaring printing abolished all over 
France! Francis I. presents one among the many exam- 
ples on record showing that intellectual culture is not a 
safeguard against religious intolerance and persecution. 

France by a solemn and public ceremony was to commit 
herself fully to the destruction of Protestantism. The priests 
demanded that the affront offered to high Heaven in the 
condemnation of the mass, be expiated in blood, and that 
the king, in behalf of his people, publicly give his sanction 
to the dreadful work. 

The 21st of January, 1535, was fixed upon for the awful 
ceremonial. The superstitious fears and bigoted hatred of 
the whole nation had been roused. Paris was thronged 
with the multitudes that from all the surrounding country 
crowded her streets. The day was to be ushered in bv a 



228 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

vast and imposing procession. Along the line of march the 
houses were draped in mourning. At intervals altars were 
erected, and before every door was a lighted torch in honor 
of the " holy sacrament." Before daybreak the procession 
formed, at the palace of the king. After the crosses and 
banners of the parishes, came citizens, walking two and two, 
and bearing lighted torches. The four orders of friars fol- 
lowed, each in its own peculiar dress. Then came a vast 
collection of famous relics. Following these rode lordly 
ecclesiastics in their purple and scarlet robes and jeweled 
adornings, a gorgeous and glittering array. 

The host was borne under a splendid canopy, supported 
by four princes of highest rank. After them walked the 
monarch, divested of his crown and royal robe, with uncov- 
ered head and downcast eyes, and bearing in his hand a 
lighted taper. Thus the king of France appeared publicly 
as a penitent. At every . altar he bowed down in humilia- 
tion, not for the vices that defiled his soul, nor the innocent 
blood that stained his hands, but for the deadly sin of his 
subjects who had dared to condemn the mass. Following 
him came the queen and the dignitaries of State, also walk- 
ing two and two, each with a lighted torch. 

As a part of the services of the day, the monarch him- 
self addressed the high officials of the kingdom in the great 
hall of the bishop's palace. With a sorrowful countenance 
he appeared before them, and in words of moving eloquence 
bewailed the " crime, the blasphemy, the day of sorrow and 
disgrace," that had come upon the nation. And he called 
upon every loyal subject to aid in the extirpation of the 
pestilent heresy that threatened France with ruin. " As true, 
Messieurs, as I am your king," he said, a if I knew one of my 
own limbs spotted or infected with this detestable rottenness, 
I would give it to you to cut off. . . . And, further, if I 
saw one of my children defiled by it, I would not spare 
him. ... I would deliver him up myself, and would 
sacrifice him to God." Tears choked his utterance, and the 



THE FRENCH REFORM A TION. 229 

whole assembly wept, with one accord exclaiming, " \\ T c will 
live and die in the Catholic religion." 

Terrible had become the darkness of the nation that had 
rejected the light of truth. '"The grace that bringeth salva- 
tion" had appeared; but France, after beholding its power 
and holiness, after thousands had been drawn by its divine 
beauty, after cities and hamlets had been illuminated by its 
radiance, had turned away, choosing darkness rather than 
light. They had put from them the heavenly gift, when it 
was offered them. They had called evil good, and good evil, 
till they had fallen victims to their willful self-deception. 
Now, though they might actually believe that they were doing 
God service in persecuting his people, yet their sincerity did 
not render them guiltless. The light that would have saved 
them from deception, from staining their souls with blood- 
guiltiness, they had willfully rejected. 

A solemn oath to extirpate heresy was taken, in the great 
cathedral where, nearly three centuries later, the " Goddess of 
Reason " was to be enthroned by a nation that had forgotten 
the living God. Again the procession formed, and the rep- 
resentatives of France set out to begin the work which they 
had sworn to do. At intervals along the homeward route, 
scaffolds had been erected for the execution of heretics, and 
it was arranged that at the approach of the king the pile 
should be lighted, that he might thus be witness to the whole 
terrible spectacle. The details of the tortures endured by 
these witnesses for Christ are too harrowing for recital ; but 
there was no wavering on the part of the victims. On being 
urged to recant, one answered, " I only believe in what the 
prophets and apostles formerly preached, and what all the 
company of the saints believed. My faith has a confidence 
in God which will resist all the power of hell.'' 

Again and again the procession halted at the places of 
torture. Upon reaching their starting-point at the royal pal- 
ace, the crowd dispersed, and the king and tke prelates with- 
drew, well satisfied with the clay's proceedings, and congrat- 



230 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

ulating themselves that the work now begun would be con- 
tinued to the complete destruction of heresy. 

The gospel of peace which France had rejected was to be 
only too surely rooted out, and terrible would be the results. 
On the 21st of January, 1793, two hundred and fifty-eight 
years from the very day that fully committed France to the 
persecution of the reformers, another procession, with a far 
different purpose, passed through the streets of Paris. "Again 
the king was the chief figure; again there were tumult 
and shouting ; again there was heard the cry for more vic- 
tims; again there were black scaffolds; and again the scenes 
of the day were closed by horrid executions; Louis XVI.,. 
struggling hand to hand with his jailers and executioners, 
was dragged forward to the block, and there held down by 
main force till the ax had fallen, and his dissevered head 
fell on the scaffold." Nor was the king the only victim; 
near the same spot two thousand and eight hundred human 
beings perished by the guillotine during the bloody days of 
the reign of terror. 

The Reformation had presented to the world an open 
Bible, unsealing the precepts of the law of God, and urging 
its claims upon the consciences of the people. Infinite 
love had unfolded to men the statutes and principles of 
Heaven. God had said, " Keep therefore and do them ; for 
this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of 
the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, 
Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding peo- 
ple." 1 When France rejected the gift of Heaven, she 
sowed the seeds of anarchy and ruin; and the inevitable 
outworking of cause and effect resulted in the Revolution 
and the reign of terror. 

Long before the persecution excited by the placards, the 
bold and apdent Farel had been forced to flee from the land 
of his birth. He repaired to Switzerland, and by his labors, 
seconding the work of Zwingle, he helped to turn the scale 
in favor of the Reformation. His later years were to be 

iDeut. 4:6. 



THE FRENCH RE FORMA TION. 231 

spent here, yet he continued to exert a decided influence 
upon the reform in France. During the first years of his 
exile, his efforts were especially directed to spreading the 
gospel in his native country. He spent considerable time in 
preaching among his countrymen near the frontier, where 
with tireless vigilance he watched the conflict, and aided 
by his words of encouragement and counsel. With the 
assistance of other exiles, the writings of the German reform- 
ers were translated into the French language, and, together 
with the French Bible, were printed in large quantities. By 
colporters, these works were sold extensively in France. 
They were furnished to the colporters at a low price, and 
thus the profits of the work enabled them to continue it, 

Farel entered upon his work in Switzerland in the humble 
guise of a school-master. Repairing to a secluded parish, 
he devoted himself to the instruction of children. Besides 
the usual branches of learning, he cautiously introduced 
the truths of the Bible, hoping through the children to 
reach their parents. There were some who believed, but 
the priests came forward to stop the work, and the super- 
stitious country people were roused to oppose it. "That 
cannot be the gospel of Christ," urged the priests, "seeing 
the preaching of it does not bring peace but war." Like 
the first disciples, when persecuted in one city he fled to 
another. From village to village, from city to city, he went; 
traveling on foot, enduring hunger, cold, and weariness, and 
everywhere in peril of his life. He preached in the market- 
places, in the churches, sometimes in the pulpits of the ca- 
thedrals. Sometimes he found the church empty of hearers; 
at times his preaching was interrupted by shouts and jeers, 
again he was pulled violently out of the pulpit. More than 
once he was set upon by the rabble, and beaten almost to 
death. Yet he pressed forward. Though often repulsed, 
with unwearying persistence he returned to the attack ; and, 
one after another, he saw towns and cities which had been 
strongholds of popery, opening their gates to the gospel. 

18 



232 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

The little parish where he had first labored, soon accepted 
the reformed faith. The cities of Morat and Neuchatel also 
renounced the Romish rites, and removed the idolatrous 
images from their churches. 

Farel had long desired to plant the Protestant standard 
in Geneva. If this city could be won, it would be a center 
for the Reformation in France, in Switzerland, and in Italy. 
With this object before him, he had continued his labors 
until many of the surrounding towns and hamlets had been 
gained. Then with a single companion he entered Geneva. 
But only two sermons was he permitted to preach. The 
priests, having vainly endeavored to secure his condemna- 
tion by the civil authorities, summoned him before an eccle- 
siastical council, to which they came with arms concealed 
under their robes, determined to take his life. Outside the 
hall, a furious mob, with clubs and swords, was gathered to 
make sure of his death if he should succeed in escaping 
the council. The presence of magistrates and an armed 
force, however, saved him. Early next morning he was 
conducted, with his companion, across the lake to a place of 
safety. Thus ended his first effort to evangelize Geneva. 

For the next trial a lowlier instrument was chosen, — a 
young man, so humble in appearance that he was coldly 
treated even by the professed friends of reform. But what 
could such a one do where Farel had been rejected? How 
could one of little courage and experience withstand the 
tempest before which the strongest and bravest had been 
forced to flee? "Not by might, nor by power, but by my 
Spirit, saith the Lord." l " God hath chosen the weak things 
of the world to confound the things which are mighty." 
"Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the 
weakness of God is stronger than men." 2 

Froment began his work as a school-master. The truths 
which he taught the children at school, they repeated at 
their homes. Soon the parents came to hear the Bible 
explained, until the school-room was filled with attentive 

iZech. 4:6. 2 1 Cor. 1 :27, 25. 



THE FRENCH REFORM A TION. 233 

listeners. New Testaments and tracts were freely distributed, 
and they reached many who dared not come openly to 
listen to the new doctrines. After a time this laborer also 
was forced to flee; but the truths he taught had taken hold 
upon the minds of the people. The Reformation had been 
planted, and it continued to strengthen and extend. The 
preachers returned, and through their labors the Protestant 
worship was finally established in Geneva. 

The city had already declared for the Reformation, when 
Calvin, after various wanderings and vicissitudes, entered 
its gates. Returning from a last visit to his birthplace, he 
was on his way to Basel, when, finding the direct road occu- 
pied by the armies of Charles V., he was forced to take the 
circuitous route by Geneva. 

In this visit, Farel recognized the hand of God. Though 
Geneva had accepted the reformed faith, yet a great work 
remained to be accomplished here. It is not as communi- 
ties but as individuals that men are converted to God; 
the work of regeneration must be wrought in the heart 
and conscience by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by 
the decrees of councils. While the people of Geneva had 
cast off the authority of Rome, they were not so ready to 
renounce the vices that had flourished under her rule. To 
establish here the pure principles of the gospel, and to pre- 
pare this people to fill worthily the position to which Provi- 
dence seemed calling them, was no light task. 

Farel was confident that he had found in Calvin one 
whom he could unite with himself in this work. In the 
name of God he solemnly adjured the young evangelist to 
remain and labor here. Calvin drew back in alarm. Timid 
and peace-loving, he shrank from contact with the bold, 
independent, and even violent spirit of the Genevese. The 
feebleness of his health, together with his studious habits, 
led him to seek retirement. Believing that by his pen he 
could best serve the cause of reform, he desired to find a 
quiet retreat for study, and there, through the press, instruct 



234 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

and build up the churches. But Farel's solemn admonition 
came to him as a call from Heaven, and he dared not refuse. 
It seemed to him, he said, "that the hand of God was 
stretched down from Heaven, that it laid hold of him, 
and fixed him irrevocably to the place he was so impatient 
to leave." 

At this time great perils surrounded the Protestant cause. 
The anathemas of the pope thundered against Geneva, and 
mighty nations threatened it with destruction. How was 
this little city to resist the powerful hierarchy that had so 
often forced kings and emperors to submission? How could 
it stand against the armies of the world's great conquerors? 

Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by 
formidable foes. The first triumphs of the Reformation 
past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its 
destruction. At this time, the order of the Jesuits was cre- 
ated, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the 
champions of popery. Cut off from every earthly tie and 
human interest, dead to the claims of natural affection,. rea- 
son and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no 
tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its 
power. The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to 
meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hun- 
ger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in face 
of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these 
forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that 
enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the 
power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no 
crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for 
them to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. 
Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their 
studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the 
overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of 
the papal supremacy. 

"When appearing as members of their order, they wore a 
garb of sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering 



THE FRENCH REFORM A TION. 235 

to the sick and the poor, professing to have renounced the 
world, and bearing the sacred name of Jesus, who went 
about doing good. But under this blameless exterior the 
most criminal and deadly purposes were concealed. It was 
a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies 
the means. By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, 
were not only pardonable but commendable, when they 
served the interests of the church. Under various disguises 
the Jesuits worked their way into offices of State, climbing 
up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of 
nations. They became servants, to act as spies upon their 
masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes 
and nobles, and schools for the common people ; and the 
children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance 
of popish rites. All the outward pomp and display of the 
Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind, 
and dazzle and captivate the imagination ; and thus the lib- 
erty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed 
by the sons. The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over 
Europe, and wherever they went, there followed a revival of 
popery. 

To give them greater power, a bull was issued re-estab- 
lishing the Inquisition. Notwithstanding the general abhor- 
rence with which it was regarded, even in Catholic countries, 
this terrible tribunal was again set up by popish rulers, and 
atrocities too terrible to bear the light of day were repeated 
in its secret dungeons. In many countries, thousands upon 
thousands of the very flower of the nation, the purest and 
noblest, the most intellectual and highly educated, pious and 
devoted pastors, industrious and patriotic citizens, brilliant 
scholars, talented artists, skillful artisans, were slain, or forced 
to flee to other lands. 

Such were the means which Rome had invoked to quench 
the light of the Reformation, to withdraw from men the 
Bible, and to restore the ignorance and superstition of the 
Dark Ages. But under God's blessing and the labors of those 



236 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

noble men whom he had raised up to succeed Luther, Protest- 
antism was not overthrown. Not to the favor or arms of 
princes was it to owe its strength. The smallest countries, the 
humblest and least powerful nations, became its strongholds. 
It was little Geneva in the midst of mighty foes plotting her 
destruction ; it was Holland on her sand-banks by the North- 
ern Sea, wrestling against the tyranny of Spain, then the 
greatest and most opulent of kingdoms ; it was bleak, sterile 
Sweden, that gained victories for the Reformation. 

For nearly thirty years, Calvin labored at Geneva; first 
to establish there a church adhering to the morality of the 
Bible, and then for the advancement of the Reformation 
throughout Europe. His course as a public leader was not 
faultless, nor were his doctrines free from error. But he was 
instrumental in promulgating truths that were of special 
importance in his time, in maintaining the principles of 
Protestantism against the fast-returning tide of popery, and 
in promoting in the reformed churches simplicity and purity 
of life, in place of the pride and corruption fostered under 
the Romish teaching. 

From Geneva, publications and teachers went out to 
spread the reformed doctrines. To this point the persecuted 
of all lands looked for instruction, counsel, and encourage- 
ment. The city of Calvin became a refuge for the hunted 
reformers of all Western Europe. Fleeing from the awful 
tempests that continued for centuries, the fugitives came 
to the gates of Geneva. Starving, wounded, bereft of home 
and kindred, they were warmly welcomed and tenderly cared 
for; and finding a home here they blessed the city of their 
adoption by their skill, their learning, and their piety. Many 
who sought here a refuge returned to their own countries to 
resist the tyranny of Rome. John Knox, the brave Scotch 
reformer, not a few of the English Puritans, the Protestants 
of Holland, and the Huguenots of France, carried from 
Geneva the torch of truth to lighten the darkness of their 
native land. 



CHAPTER XIII 



IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SCANDINAVIA. 

In the Netherlands the papal tyranny very early called 
forth resolute protest. Seven hundred years before Luther's 
time, the Soman pontiff was thus fearlessly impeached by 
two bishops, who, having been sent on an embassy to Rome, 
had learned the true character of the " holy see : " " God has 
made his queen and spouse, the church, a noble and ever- 
lasting provision for her family, with a dowry that is neither 
fading nor corruptible, and given her an eternal crown and 
scepter; all which benefits, you, like a thief, intercept. You 
set up yourself in the temple as God ; instead of a shepherd, 
you have become as a wolf to the sheep. You would have 
us believe you supreme bishop; you are rather a tyrant. . . 
Whereas you ought to be a servant of servants, as you call 
yourself, you intrigue to become lord of lords. . . . You 
bring the commands of God into contempt. . . . The 
Holy Ghost is the builder of ail churches as far as the earth 
extends. The city of our God, of which we are citizens, 
reaches to all parts of the heavens ; and it is greater than 
the city, by the holy prophets named Babylon, which pre- 
tends to be divine, equals herself to Heaven, and boasts that 
her wisdom is immortal; and finally, though without reason, 
that she never did err, nor ever can." 

Others arose from century to century to echo this protest. 
And those early teachers, who, traversing different lands, 
and known by various names, bare the character of the 
Yaudois missionaries, and spread everywhere the knowledge 
of the gospel, penetrated to the Netherlands. Their doctrines 
spread rapidly. The AValdensian Bible they translated in 

(237) 



238 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

verse into the Dutch language. "There is," they said, 
"great advantage in it; no jests, no fables, no trifles, no 
deceits, naught but words of truth. There is, indeed, here 
and there a hard crust, but even in this the .marrow and 
sweetness of what is good and holy may easily be dis- 
covered." Thus wrote the friends of the ancient faith, in 
the twelfth century. 

Now began the Romish persecutions, but in the midst of 
fagots and torture the believers continued to multiply, stead- 
fastly declaring that the Bible is the only infallible author- 
ity in religion, and that "no man should be coerced to. 
believe, but should be won by preaching." 

The teachings of Luther found a congenial soil in the 
Netherlands, and earnest and faithful men arose to preach 
the gospel. From one of the provinces of Holland came 
Menno Simons. Educated a Roman Catholic, and ordained 
to the priesthood, he was wholly ignorant of the Bible, and 
he would not read it, for fear of being beguiled into heresy. 
When a doubt concerning the doctrine of transubstantiation 
forced itself upon him, he regarded it as a temptation from 
Satan, and by prayer and confession sought to free himself 
from it; but in vain. By mingling in scenes of dissipation 
he endeavored to silence the accusing voice of conscience; 
but without avail. After a time he was led to the study of 
the New Testament, and this with Luther's writings caused 
him to accept the reformed faith. He soon after witnessed 
in a neighboring village the beheading of a man who was 
put to death for having been rebaptized. This led him to 
study the Bible in regard to infant baptism. He could find 
no evidence for it in the Scriptures, but saw that repentance 
and faith are everywhere required as the condition of receiv- 
ing baptism. 

Menno withdrew from the Roman Church, and devoted 
his life to teaching the truths which he had received. In 
both Germany and the Netherlands a class of fanatics had 
risen, advocating absurd and seditious doctrines, outraging 



IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SCANDINA VIA. 239 



order and decency, and proceeding to violence and insurrec- 
tion. Menno saw the horrible results to which these move- 
ments would inevitably lead, and he strenuously opposed 
the erroneous teachings and wild schemes of the fanatics. 
There were many, however, who had been misled by these 
fanatics but who had renounced their pernicious doctrines; 
and there were still remaining many descendants of the 
ancient Christians, the fruits of the Waldensian teaching. 
Among these classes Menno labored with great zeal and 
success. 

For twent} T -five years he traveled, with his wife and chil- 
dren, enduring great hardships and privations, and fre- 
quently in peril of his life. He traversed the Netherlands 
and Northern Germany, laboring chiefly among the humbler 
classes, but exerting a widespread influence. Naturally 
eloquent, though possessing a limited education, he was a 
man of unwavering integrity, of humble spirit and gentle 
manners, and of sincere and earnest piety, exemplifying in 
his own life the precepts which he taught, and he com- 
manded the confidence of the people. His followers were 
scattered and oppressed. They suffered greatly from being 
confounded with the fanatical Munsterites. Yet great num- 
bers w T ere converted under his labors. 

Nowhere were the reformed doctrines more generally 
received than in the Netherlands. In few countries did 
their adherents endure more terrible persecution. In Ger- 
many Charles V. had banned the Reformation, and he would 
gladly have brought all its adherents to the stake; but the 
princes stood up as a barrier against his tyranny. In the 
Netherlands his power was greater, and persecuting edicts 
followed each other in quick succession. To read the Bible, 
to hear or preach it or even to speak concerning it, was to 
incur the penalty of death by the stake. To pray to God in 
secret, to refrain from bowing to an image, or to sing a psalm, 
was also punishable with death. Even those who should 
abjure their errors, were condemned, if men, to die by the 



240 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

sword ; if women, to be buried alive. Those who remained 
steadfast, sometimes suffered the same punishment. Thou- 
sands perished under the reign of Charles and of Philip II. 

At one time a whole family was brought before the inquis- 
itors, charged with remaining away from mass, and worship- 
ing at home. On his examination as to their practices in 
secret, the youngest son answered, " We fall on our knees, 
and pray that God will enlighten our minds and pardon 
our sins. We pray for our sovereign, that his reign may be 
prosperous and his life happy. We pray for our magistrates, 
that God may preserve them." Some of the judges were 
deeply moved, yet the father and one of his sons were 
condemned to the stake. 

The rage of the persecutors was equaled by the faith of 
the martyrs. Not only -men but delicate women and young 
maidens displayed unflinching courage. "Wives would 
take their stand by their husband's stake, and while he was 
enduring the fire they would whisper words of solace, or 
sing psalms to cheer him." "Young maidens would lie 
down in their living grave as if they were entering into 
their chamber of nightly sleep ; or go forth to the scaffold 
and the fire dressed in their best apparel, as if they were 
going to their marriage." 

As in the days when paganism sought to destroy the 
gospel, " the blood of the Christians was seed." Persecution 
served to increase the number of witnesses for the truth. 
Year after year the monarch, stung to madness by the un- 
conquerable determination of the people, urged on his cruel 
work; but in vain. Under the noble William of Orange, 
the Revolution at last brought to Holland freedom to wor- 
ship God. 

In the mountains of Piedmont, on the plains of France 
and the shores of Holland, the progress of the gospel was 
marked with the blood of its disciples. But in the countries 
of the North it found a peaceful entrance. Students at 
Wittenberg, returning to their homes, carried the reformed 



IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SCANDINAVIA. 241 

faith to Scandinavia, The publication of Luther's writings 
also spread the light. The simple, hardy people of the 
North turned from the corruption, the pomp, and the super- 
stitions of Rome, to welcome the purity, the simplicity, and 
the life-giving truths of the Bible. 

Tausen, "the reformer of Denmark," was a peasant's son. 
The boy early gave evidence of vigorous intellect ; he thirsted 
for an education ; but this was denied him by the circum- 
stances of his parents, and he entered a cloister. Here the 
purity of his life, together with his diligence and fidelity, 
won the favor of his superior. Examination showed him to 
possess talent that promised at some future day good service 
to the church. It was determined to give him an education 
at some one of the universities of Germany or the Nether- 
lands. The young student was granted permission to choose 
a school for himself, with the one proviso, that he must not 
go to Wittenberg. The scholar of the church was not to 
be endangered by the poison of heresy. So said the friars. 

Tausen went to Cologne, which was then as now one of 
the strongholds of Romanism. Here he soon became dis- 
gusted with the mysticisms of the schoolmen. About the 
same time he obtained Luther's writings. He read them 
with wonder and delight, and greatly desired to enjoy the 
personal instruction of the reformer. But to do so he must 
risk giving offense to his monastic superior, and forfeiting 
his support. His decision was soon made, and erelong he 
was enrolled as a student at Wittenberg. 

On returning to Denmark he again repaired to his cloister. 
No one as yet suspected him of Lutheranism; he did not 
reveal his secret, but endeavored, without exciting the preju- 
dices of his companions, to lead them to a purer faith and a 
holier life. He opened the Bible, and explained its true 
meaning, and at last preached Christ to them as the sinner's 
righteousness and his only hope of salvation. Great was the 
wrath of the prior, who had built high hopes upon him as a 
valiant defender of Rome. He was at once removed from 



242 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



his own monastery to another, and confined to his cell, under 
strict supervision. 

To the terror of his new guardians, several of the monks 
soon declared themselves converts to Protestantism. Through 
the bars of his cell, Tausen had communicated to his com- 
panions a knowledge of the truth. Had those Danish 
fathers been skilled in the church's plan of dealing with 
heresy, Tausen's voice would never again have been heard; 
but instead of consigning him to a tomb in some under- 
ground dungeon, they expelled him from the monastery. 
Now they were powerless. A royal edict, just issued, offered 
protection to the teachers of the new doctrine. Tausen 
began to preach. The churches w r ere opened to him, and the 
people thronged to listen. Others also w T ere preaching the 
Word of God. The -New Testament, translated into the 
Danish tongue, was widely circulated. The efforts made by 
papists to overthrow the work resulted in extending it, and 
erelong Denmark declared its acceptance of the reformed 
faith. 

In Sweden, also, young men who had drunk from the well 
of Wittenberg carried the water of life to their countrymen. 
Two of the leaders in the Swedish Reformation, Olaf and 
Laurentius Petri, the sons of a blacksmith of Orebro, studied 
under Luther and Melancthon, and the truths which they 
thus learned they were diligent to teach. Like the great 
reformer, Olaf aroused the people by his zeal and elo- 
quence, while Laurentius, like Melancthon, was learned, 
thoughtful, and calm. Both were men of ardent piety, of 
high theological attainments, and of unflinching courage in 
advancing the truth. Papist opposition was not lacking. 
The Catholic priests stirred up the ignorant and superstitious 
people. Olaf Petri was often assailed by the mob, and upon 
several occasions barely escaped with his life. These reform- 
ers were, however, favored and protected by the king. Un- 
der the rule of the Romish Church, the people were sunken 
in poverty, and ground down by oppression. They were 



IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SCANDINAVIA. 243 

destitute of the Scriptures, and having a religion of mere 
signs and ceremonies, which conveyed no light to the mind, 
they were returning to the superstitious beliefs and pagan 
practices of their heathen ancestors. The nation was divided 
into contending factions whose perpetual strife increased the 
misery of all. The king determined upon a reformation in 
the State and the church, and he welcomed these able assist- 
ants in the battle against Rome. 

In presence of the monarch and the leading men of 
Sweden, Olaf Petri with great ability defended the doc- 
trines of the reformed faith against the Romish champions. 
He declared that the teachings of the Fathers are to be 
received only when in accordance with the Scriptures ; that 
the essential doctrines of the faith are presented in the Bible 
in a clear and simple manner, so that all men may under- 
stand them. Christ said, " My doctrine is not mine, but His 
that sent me," 1 and Paul declared that should he preach 
any other gospel than that which he had received, he would 
be accursed. 2 "How, then," said the reformer, "shall others 
presume to enact dogmas at their pleasure, and impose them 
as things necessary to salvation?" He showed that the 
decrees of the church are of no authority when in opposi- 
tion to the commands of God, and maintained the great 
Protestant principle, that "the Bible, and the Bible only," is 
the rule of faith and practice. 

This contest, though conducted upon a stage compara- 
tively obscure, serves to " show us the kind of men that 
formed the rank and file of the army of the reformers. 
When we confine our attention to such brilliant centers as 
Wittenberg and Zurich, and to such illustrious names as 
those of Luther and Melancthon, of Zwingle and (Ecolampa- 
dius, we are apt to be told that these were the leaders of' the 
movement, but the subordinates were not like them. Well, 
we turn to the obscure theater of Sweden, and the humble 
names of Olaf and Laurentius Petri — from the masters to the 

1 John 7:16. 2 Gal. 1:8. 



244 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

disciples — what do we find? Not illiterate, sectarian, noisy 
controversialists — far from it; we see men who had studied 
the Word of God, and who knew well how to wield the weap- 
ons with which the armory of the Bible supplied them; 
scholars and theologians, who won an easy victory over the 
sophists of the schools, and the dignitaries of Rome." 

As the result of this disputation, the king of Sweden 
accepted the Protestant faith, and not long afterward the 
national assembly declared in its favor. The New Testa- 
ment had been translated by 01 af Petri into the Swedish 
language, and at the desire of the king the two brothers 
undertook the translation of the whole Bible. Thus for the 
first time the people of Sweden received the Word of God 
in their native tongue. It was ordered by the Diet that 
throughout the kingdom ministers should explain the Script- 
ures, and that the children in the schools should be taught 
to read the Bible. 

Steadily and surely the darkness of ignorance and super- 
stition was dispelled by the blessed light of the gospel. 
Freed from Romish oppression, the nation attained to 
strength and greatness it had never reached before. Swe- 
den became one of the bulwarks of Protestantism. A cent- 
ury later, at a time of sorest peril, this small and hitherto 
feeble nation — the only one in Europe that dared lend a 
helping hand — came to the deliverance of Germany in the 
terrible struggles of the thirty years' war. All Northern 
Europe seemed about to be brought again under the tyr- 
anny of Rome. It was the armies of Sweden that enabled 
Germany to turn the tide of popish success, to win toleration 
for the Protestants — Calvinists as well as Lutherans — and to 
restore liberty of conscience to those countries that had 
accepted the Reformation. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 

While Luther was opening a closed Bible to the people 
of Germany, Tyndale was impelled by the Spirit of God to 
do the same for England. WyclifTe's Bible had been trans- 
lated from the Latin text, which contained many errors. It 
had never been printed, and the cost of manuscript copies 
was so great that few but wealthy men or nobles could pro- 
cure it, and, furthermore, being strictly proscribed by the 
church, it had had a comparatively narrow circulation. In 
1516, a year before the appearance of Luther's theses, Erasmus 
had published his Greek and Latin version of the New 
Testament. Now for the first time the Word of God was 
printed in the original tongue. In this work many errors 
of former versions were corrected, and the sense was more 
clearly rendered. It led many among the educated classes 
to a better knowledge of the truth, and gave a new impetus 
to the work of reform. But the common people were still, 
to a great extent, debarred from God's Word. Tyndale was 
to complete the work of Wycliffe in giving the Bible to his 
countrymen. 

A diligent student and an earnest seeker for truth, he had 
received the gospel from the Greek Testament of Erasmus. 
He fearlessly preached his convictions, urging that all doc- 
trines be tested by the Scriptures. To the papist claim that 
the church had given the Bible, and the church alone could 
explain it, Tyndale responded, " Do you know who taught 
the eagles to find their prey? That same God teaches his 
hungry children to find their Father in his Word. Far from 
having given us the Scriptures, it is you who have hidden 

(245) 



246 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

them from us; it is you who burn those who teach them; 
and if you could, you would burn the Scriptures them- 
selves." 

Tyndale's preaching excited great interest; many accepted 
the truth. But the priests were on the alert, and no sooner 
had he left the field than they by their threats and misrep- 
resentations endeavored to destroy his w^ork. Too often they 
succeeded. " Alas ! " he exclaimed, " what is to be done ? 
While I am sowing in one place, the enemy ravages the 
field I have just left. I cannot be everywhere. Oh! if 
Christians possessed the Holy Scriptures in their own tongue, 
they could of themselves withstand these sophists. With- 
out the Bible it is impossible to establish the laity in the 
truth." 

A new purpose now took possession of his mind. " It was 
in the language of Israel," said he, " that the psalms were 
sung in the temple of Jehovah; and shall not the gospel 
speak the language of England among us? ... Ought 
the church to have less light at noonday than at the dawn? 
. . . Christians must read the New Testament in their 
mother-tongue." The doctors and teachers of the church 
disagreed among themselves. Only by the Bible could men 
arrive at the truth. "One holdeth this doctrine, another 
that. . . . Now each of these authors contradicts the 
other. How then can we distinguish him who says right 
from him who says wrong? . . . How? . . . Verily, 
by God's Word." 

It was not long after that a learned Catholic doctor, 
engaging in controversy with him, exclaimed, " It were bet- 
ter for us to be without God's law than without the pope's." 
Tyndale replied, " I defy the pope and all his laws ; and if 
God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who 
driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than you do." 

The purpose which he had begun to cherish, of giving to 
the people the Ne^w-Testament Scriptures in their own lan- 
guage, was now confirmed, and he immediately applied him- 



LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 247 



self to the work. Driven from his home by persecution, lie 
went to London, and there for a time pursued his lahors 
undisturbed. But again the violence of the papists forced 
him to flee. All England seemed closed against him, and 
lie resolved to seek shelter in Germany. Here he began the 
printing of the English New Testament. Twice the work 
was stopped; but when forbidden to print in one city, he 
went to another. At last he made his w r ay to Worms, where, 
a few years before, Luther had defended the gospel before 
the Diet. In that ancient city were many friends of the 
Reformation, and Tyndale there prosecuted his work with- 
out further hindrance. Three thousand copies of the New 
Testament were soon finished, and another edition followed 
in the same year. 

With great earnestness and perseverance he continued his 
labors. Notwithstanding the English authorities had guarded 
their ports with the strictest vigilance, the AVord of God 
was in various ways secretly conveyed to London, and thence 
circulated throughout the country. The papists attempted 
to suppress the truth, but in vain. The bishop of Durham 
at one time bought of a bookseller who was a friend of 
Tyndale, his whole stock of Bibles, for the purpose of destroy- 
ing them, supposing that this would greatly hinder the 
work. But, on the contrary, the money thus furnished, pur- 
chased material for a new and better edition, which, but for 
this, could not have been published. When Tyndale was 
afterward made a prisoner, his liberty was offered him on 
condition that he w^ould reveal the names of those who had 
helped him meet the ' expense of printing his Bibles. He 
replied that the bishop of Durham had done more than 
any other person ; for by paying a large price for the books 
left on hand, he had enabled him to go on with good courage. 

Tyndale was betrayed into the hands of his enemies, and 

at one time suffered imprisonment for many months. He 

finally witnessed for his faith by a martyr's death; but the 

weapons which he prepared have enabled other soldiers to do 

battle through all the centuries even to our time. 
19 



248 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Latimer maintained from the pulpit that the Bible ought 
to be read in the language of the people. " The Author of 
Holy Scripture," said lie, "is God himself, and this Scripture 
partakes of the might and eternity of its Author. There is 
neither king nor emperor that is not bound to obey it. Let 
us beware of those by-paths of human tradition, full of 
stones, brambles, and uprooted trees. Let us follow the 
straight road of the Word. It does not concern us what the 
Fathers have done, but rather what they ought to have 
done." 

Barnes and Frith, the faithful friends of Tyndale, arose to 
defend the truth. The Bidleys and Cranrner followed. 
These leaders in the English Reformation were men of 
learning, and most of them had been highly esteemed for 
zeal or piety in the Romish communion. Their opposition 
to the papacy was the result of their knowledge of the errors 
of the " holy see." Their acquaintance with the mysteries of 
Babylon, gave greater power to their testimonies against her. 

"Do you know," said Latimer, "who is the most diligent 
bishop in England? I see you listening and hearkening 
that I should name him. I will tell you. It is the devil. 
He is never out of his diocese; you shall never find him 
idle. Call for him when you will, he is ever at home, he is 
ever at the plow. You shall never find him remiss, I war- 
rant you. Where the devil is resident, there away with 
books, and up with candles ; away with Bibles, and up with 
beads ; away with the light of the gospel, and up with the 
light of wax tapers, yea, at noonday; down with Christ's 
cross, up with the purgatory pick-purse; away with clothing 
the naked, the poor, the impotent; up with the decking of 
images and the gay garnishing of stones and stocks ; down 
with God and his most holy Word; up with traditions, 
human councils, and a blinded pope. Oh that our prelates 
would be as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine as 
Satan is to sow cockle and darnel ! " 

The grand principle maintained by these reformers — the 




ENGLISH MARTYRS UNDER QUEEN MARY. 



LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 249 



same that had been held by the Waldenses, by Wycliffe, by 
John Huss, by Luther, Zwingle, and those who united with 
them — was the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures 
as a rule of faith and practice. They denied the right of 
popes, councils, Fathers, and kings, to control the conscience 
in matters of religion. The Bible was their authority, and 
by its teaching they tested all doctrines and all claims. 

Faith in God and his Word sustained these holy men as 
they yielded up their lives at the stake. " Be of good com- 
fort," exclaimed Latimer to his fellow-martyr as the flames 
were about to silence their voices, " we shall this day light 
such a candle in England as, I trust, by God's grace shall 
never be put out." 

In Scotland the seeds of truth scattered by Columba and 
his co-laborers had never been wholly destroyed. For hun- 
dreds of years after the churches of England submitted to 
Rome, those of Scotland maintained their freedom. In the 
twelfth century, however, popery became established here, 
and in no country did it exercise a more absolute sway. 
Nowhere was the darkness deeper. Still there came rays of 
light to pierce the gloom, and give promise of the coming 
day. The Lollards, coming from England with the Bible 
and the teachings of Wycliffe, did much to preserve the 
knowledge of the gospel, and every century had its witnesses 
and martyrs. . 

With the opening of the Great Reformation came the 
writings of Luther, and then Tyndale's English New Testa- 
ment. Unnoticed by the hierarchy, these messengers silently 
traversed the mountains and valleys, kindling into new life 
the torch of truth so nearly extinguished in Scotland, and 
undoing the work which Rome for four centuries of oppres- 
sion had done. 

Then the blood of martyrs gave fresh' impetus to the 
movement. The papist leaders, suddenly awakening to the 
danger that threatened their cause, brought to the stake 
some of the noblest and most honored of the sons of Scotland. 



LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 249 



same that had been held by the Waldenses, by Wycliffe, by 
John HusSj by Luther, Zwingle, and those who united with 
them — was the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures 
as a rule of faith and practice. They denied the right of 
popes, councils, Fathers, and kings, to control the conscience 
in matters of religion. The Bible was their authority, and 
by its teaching they tested all doctrines and all claims. 

Faith in God and his Word sustained these holy men as 
they yielded up their lives at the stake. " Be of good com- 
fort," exclaimed Latimer to his fellow-martyr as the flames 
were about to silence their voices, " we shall this day light 
such a candle in England as, I trust, by God's grace shall 
never be put out." 

In Scotland the seeds of truth scattered by Columba and 
his co-laborers had never been wholly destroyed. For hun- 
dreds of years after the churches of England submitted to 
Rome, those of Scotland maintained their freedom. In the 
twelfth century, however, popery became established here, 
and in no country did it exercise a more absolute sway. 
Nowhere was the darkness deeper. Still there came rays of 
light to pierce the gloom, and give promise of the coming 
day. The Lollards, coming from England with the Bible 
and the teachings of Wycliffe, did much to preserve the 
knowledge of the gospel, and every century had its witnesses 
and martyrs. . 

With the opening of the Great Reformation came the 
writings of Luther, and then Tyndale's English New Testa- 
ment. Unnoticed by the hierarchy, these messengers silently 
traversed the mountains and valleys, kindling into new life 
the torch of truth so nearly extinguished in Scotland, and 
undoing the work which Rome for four centuries of oppres- 
sion had done. 

Then the blood of martyrs gave fresh' impetus to the 
movement. The papist leaders, suddenly awakening to the 
danger that threatened their cause, brought to the stake 
some of the noblest and most honored of the sons of Scotland. 



250 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



They did but erect a pulpit, from which the words of these 
dying witnesses were heard throughout the land, thrilling 
the souls of the people with an undying purpose to cast off 
the shackles of Rome. 

Hamilton and Wishart, princely in character as in birth, 
with a long line of humbler disciples, yielded up their lives 
at the stake. But from the burning pile of Wishart there 
came one whom the flames were not to silence, — one who 
under God was to strike the death-knell of popery in Scot- 
land. 

John Knox had turned away from the traditions and 
mysticisms of the church, to feed upon the truths of God's 
Word, and the teaching of Wishart had confirmed his 
determination to forsake the communion of Rome, and join 
himself to the persecuted 'reformers. 

Urged by his companions to take the office of preacher, 
he shrunk with trembling from its responsibility, and it was 
only after days of seclusion and painful conflict with himself 
that he consented. But having once accepted the position, 
he pressed forward with inflexible determination and un- 
daunted courage as long as life continued. This true-hearted 
reformer feared not the face of man. The fires of martyr- 
dom, blazing around him, served only to quicken his zeal to 
greater intensity. With the tyrant's ax held menacingly 
over his head, he stood his ground, striking sturdy blows 
on the right hand and on the left to demolish idolatry. 

When brought face to face with the queen of Scotland, in 
whose presence the zeal of many a leader of the Protestants 
had abated, John Knox bore unswerving witness for the 
truth. He was not to be won by caresses; he quailed not 
before threats. The queen charged him with heresy. He 
had taught the people to receive a religion prohibited by 
the State, she declared, and had thus transgressed God's 
command enjoining subjects to obey their princes. Knox 
answered firmly: — 

"As right religion received neither its origin nor its 



LATEB ENGLISH REFORMERS. 251 



authority from princes, but from the eternal God alone, so 
are not subjects bound to frame their religion according to 
the tastes of their princes. For oft it is that princes, of all 
others, are the most ignorant of God's true religion. If all 
the seed of Abraham had been of the religion of Pharaoh, 
whose subjects they long were, I pray you, madam, what 
religion would there have been in the world? And if all in 
the days of the apostles had been of the religion of the 
Roman emperors, I pray you, madam, what religion would 
there have been now upon the earth? . . . And so, 
madam, you may perceive that subjects are not bound to 
the religion of their princes, although they are commanded 
to give them reverence." 

Said Mary, "You interpret the Scripture in one way, and 
they [the Romish teachers] interpret it in another; whom 
shall I believe, and who shall be judge?" 

"You shall believe God, who plainly speaketh in his 
Word," answered the reformer; "and farther than the Word 
teaches you, ye shall believe neither the one nor the other. 
The Word of God is plain in itself, and if in any one place 
there be obscurity, the Holy Ghost, who never is contrary to 
himself, explains the same more clearly in other places, so 
that there can remain no doubt but unto such as are obsti- 
nately ignorant." Such were the truths that the fearless 
reformer, at the peril of his life, spoke in the ear of royalty. 
With the same undaunted courage he kept to his purpose, 
praying and fighting the battles of the Lord, until Scotland 
was free from popery. 

In England the establishment of Protestantism as the 
national religion diminished, but did not wholly stop perse- 
cution. While many of the doctrines of Rome had been 
renounced, not a few of its forms were retained. The su- 
premacy of the pope was rejected, but in his place the mon- 
arch was enthroned as the head of the church. In the 
service of the church there was still a wide departure from 
the purity and simplicity of the gospel. The great principle 



252 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

of religious toleration was not as yet understood. Though 
the horrible cruelties which Rome employed against heresy 
were resorted to but rarely by Protestant rulers, yet the right 
of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his 
own conscience was not acknowledged. All were required 
to accept the doctrines and observe the forms of worship 
prescribed by the established church. Dissenters suffered 
persecution, to a greater or less extent, for hundreds of years. 

In the seventeenth century thousands of pastors were 
expelled from their positions. The people were forbidden, 
on pain of heavy fines, imprisonment, and banishment, to 
attend any religious meetings except such as were sanc- 
tioned by the church. Those faithful souls who could not 
refrain from gathering to worship God, were compelled to 
meet in dark alleys, in obscure garrets, and, at some seasons, 
in the woods at midnight. In the sheltering depths of the 
forest, a temple of God's own building, those scattered and 
persecuted children of the Lord assembled to pour out their 
souls in prayer and praise. But despite all their precautions, 
many suffered for their faith. The jails were crowded. Fam- 
ilies were broken up. Many were banished to foreign lands. 
Yet God was with his people, and persecution could not pre- 
vail to silence their testimony. Many were driven across 
the ocean to America, and here laid the foundations of 
civil and religious liberty which have been the bulwark 
and glory of this country. 

Again, as in apostolic days, persecution turned out to the 
furtherance of the gospel. In a loathsome dungeon crowded 
with profligates and felons, John Bunyan breathed the very 
atmosphere of Heaven, and there he wrote his wonderful 
allegory of the pilgrim's journey from the land of destruc- 
tion to the celestial city. For two hundred years that voice 
from Bedford jail has spoken with thriving power to the 
hearts of men. Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" and "Grace 
Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" have guided many feet 
into the path of life. 



LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 253 



Baxter, Flavel, Alleinc, and other men of talent, educa- 
tion, and deep Christian experience, stood no in valiant de- 
fense of the faith which was once delivered to the saints. 
The work accomplished by these men, proscribed and out- 
lawed by the rulers of this world, can never perish. Flavel's 
"Fountain of Life" and "Method of Grace" have taught 
thousands how to commit the keeping of their souls to 
Christ. Baxter's " Reformed Pastor" has proved a blessing 
to many who desire a revival of the work of God, and his 
"Saint's Everlasting Rest" has done its work in leading souls 
to the " rest that remaineth for the people of God." 

A hundred years later, in a day of great spiritual dark- 
ness, Whitefield and the Wesleys appeared as light-bearers 
for God. Under the rule of the established church, the peo- 
ple of England had lapsed into a state of religious declen- 
sion hardly to be distinguished from heathenism. Natural 
religion was the favorite study of the clergy, and included 
most of their theology. The higher classes sneered at piety, 
and prided themselves on being above what they called its 
fanaticism. The lower classes were grossly ignorant, and 
abandoned to A r ice, while the church had no courage or faith 
to any longer support the downfallen cause of truth. 

The great doctrine of justification by faith, so clearly 
taught by Luther, had been almost wholly lost sight of, and 
the Romish principle of trusting to good works for salvation, 
had taken its place. Whitefield and the Wesleys, who were 
members of the established church, were sincere seekers for 
the favor of God, and this they had been taught was to be 
secured by a virtuous life and an observance of the ordi- 
nances of religion. 

When Charles Wesley at one time fell ill, and anticipated 
that death was approaching, he was asked upon what he 
rested his hope of eternal life. His answer was, " I have used 
my best endeavors to serve God." As the friend wdio had 
put the question seemed not to be fully satisfied with his 
answer, Wesley thought, "What! are not my endeavors a 



254 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



sufficient ground of hope? Would he rob me of my endeav- 
ors? I have nothing else to trust to." Such was the dense 
darkness that had settled down on the church, hiding the 
atonement, robbing Christ of his glory, and turning the 
minds of men from their only hope of salvation, — the blood 
of the crucified Redeemer. 

Wesley and his associates were led to see that true religion 
is seated in the heart, and that God's law extends to the 
thoughts as well as to the words and actions. Convinced of 
the necessity of holiness of heart, as well as correctness of 
outward deportment, they set out in earnest upon a new life. 
By the most diligent and prayerful efforts they endeavored 
to subdue the evils of the natural heart, They lived a life 
of self-denial, charity, and humiliation, observing with great 
rigor and exactness every measure which they thought 
could be helpful to them in obtaining what they most de- 
sired,— that holiness which could secure the favor of God. 
But they did not obtain the object which they sought. In 
vain were their endeavors to free themselves from the con- 
demnation of sin or to break its power. It was the same 
struggle which Luther experienced in his cell at Erfurt. It 
was the same question which had tortured his soul, — "How 
should man be just before God?" 1 

The fires of divine truth, well-nigh extinguished upon 
the altars of Protestantism, were to be rekindled from the 
ancient torch handed down the ages by the Bohemian Chris- 
tians. After the Reformation, Protestantism in Bohemia had 
been trampled out by the hordes of Rome. All who refused 
to renounce the truth were forced to flee. Some of these, 
finding refuge in Saxony, there maintained the ancient faith. 
It was from the descendants of these Christians that light 
came to Wesley and his associates. 

John and Charles Wesley, after being ordained to the 
ministry, were sent on a mission to America. On board the 
ship was a company of Moravians. Violent storms were 
encountered on the passage, and John Wesley, brought face 



LA TER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 



to face with death, felt that he had not the assurance of 
peace with God. But the Germans, on the contrary, mani- 
fested a calmness and trust to which he was a stranger. 

" I had long 1 >efore," he says, " observed the great seriousness 
of their behavior. Of their humility they had given con- 
tinual proof, by performing those servile offices for the other 
passengers which none of the English would undertake; for 
which they desired and would receive no pay, saying, it 
was good for their proud hearts, and their loving Saviour 
had done more for them. And every day had given them 
occasion of showing a meekness which no injury could 
move. If they were pushed, struck, or thrown down, they 
rose again and went away ; but no complaint was found in 
their mouth. There was now an opportunity of trying 
whether they were delivered from the spirit of fear, as well 
as from that of pride, anger, and revenge. In the midst of 
the psalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, 
split the mainsail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured 
in between the deck as if the great deep had already 
swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the 
English. The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of 
them afterward, 'Were you not afraid?' He answered,/ I 
thank God, no.' I asked, 'But were not your women and 
children afraid?' He replied mildly, 'Xo; our women and 
children are not afraid to die.'" 

Upon arriving in Savannah, Wesley for a short time abode 
with the Moravians, and was deeply impressed with their 
Christian deportment. Of one of their religious services, 
in striking contrast to the lifeless formalism of the Church 
of England, he wrote : " The great simplicity as well as solem- 
nity of the whole almost made me forget the seventeen 
hundred years between, and imagine myself in one of those 
assemblies where form and state were not; but Paul, the 
tent-maker, or Peter, the fisherman, presided ; yet with the 
demonstration of the Spirit and of power." 

On his return to England, Wesley, under the instruction 



256 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

of a Moravian preacher, arrived at a clearer understanding 
of Bible faith. He was convinced that he must renounce all 
dependence upon his own works for salvation, and must 
trust wholly to the " Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
of the world." At a meeting of the Moravian society in 
London, a statement was read from Luther, describing the 
change which the Spirit of God works in the heart of the 
believer. As Wesley listened, faith was kindled in his soul. 
" I felt my heart strangely warmed," he says. " I felt I did 
trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation ; and an assurance 
was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, 
and saved me from the law of sin and death." 

Through long years of wearisome and comfortless striving, 
— years of rigorous self-denial, of reproach and humiliation, 
— Wesley had steadfastly adhered to his one purpose of 
seeking God. Xow he had found him ; and he found that 
the grace which he had toiled to win by prayers and fasts, 
by almsdeeds and self-abnegation, was a gift, "without 
money, and without price." 

Once established in the faith of Christ, his whole soul 
burned with the desire to spread everywhere a knowledge of 
the glorious gospel of God's free grace. "I look upon all 
the world as my parish," he said, "in whatever part of it I 
am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare 
unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of sal- 
vation." 

He continued his strict and self-denying life, not now as 
the ground, but the result of faith; not the root, but the fruit 
of holiness. The grace of God in Christ is the foundation 
of the Christian's hope, and that grace will be manifested 
in obedience. Wesley's life was devoted to the preaching 
of the great truths which he had received, — justification 
through faith in the atoning blood of Christ, and the 
renewing power of the Holy Spirit upon the heart, bringing 
forth fruit in a life conformed to the example of Christ. 

Whitefield and the Wesleys had been prepared for their 




ijwniiMg™g™gBi 



WESLEY PREACHING IN THE FIELDS. 

[See pp. 700, 701.] 



LA TER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 257 

work by long and sharp personal convictions of their own 
lost condition; and that they might he able to endure hard- 
ness as good soldiers of Christ, they had been subjected to 
the fiery ordeal of scorn, derision, and persecution, both in 
the university and as they were entering the ministry. They 
and a few others who sympathized with them were con- 
temptuously called Methodists by their ungodly fellow-stu- 
dents, — a name which is at the present time regarded as 
honorable by one of the largest denominations in England 
and America. 

As members of the Church of England, they were strongly 
attached to her forms of worship, but the Lord had presented 
before them in his Word a higher standard. The Holy 
Spirit urged them to preach Christ and him crucified. The 
power of the Highest attended their labors. Thousands 
were convicted and truly converted. It was necessary that 
these sheep be protected from ravening wolves. Wesley had 
no thought of forming a new denomination, but he organ- 
ized them under what was called the Methodist Connection. 

Mysterious and trying was the opposition w T hich these 
preachers encountered from the established church ; yet God, 
in his wisdom, had overruled events to cause the reform to 
begin within the church itself. Had it come wholly from 
without, it would not have penetrated where it was so much 
needed. But as the revival preachers were churchmen, and 
labored within the pale of the church wherever they could 
find opportunity, the truth had an entrance where the doors 
would otherwise have remained closed. Some of the clergy 
were roused from their moral stupor, and became zealous 
preachers in their own parishes. Churches that had been 
petrified by formalism were quickened into life. 

In Wesley's time, as in all ages of the church's history, 
men of different gifts performed their appointed work. 
They did not harmonize upon every point of doctrine, but 
all were moved by the Spirit of God, and united in the ab- 
sorbing aim to win souls to Christ. The differences between 



258 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Whitefield and the Wesleys threatened at one time to create 
alienation; but as they learned meekness in the school of 
Christ, mutual forbearance and charity reconciled them. 
They had no time to dispute, while error and iniquity were 
teeming everywhere, and sinners were going down to ruin. 

The servants of God trod a rugged path. Men of influ- 
ence and learning employed their powers against them. After 
a time many of the clergy manifested determined hostility, 
and the doors of the churches were closed against a pure 
faith, and those who proclaimed it. The course of the clergy 
in denouncing them from the pulpit, aroused the elements of 
darkness, ignorance, and iniquity. Again and again did 
John Wesley escape death by a miracle of God's mercy. 
When the rage of the mob was excited against him, and 
there seemed no way of escape, an angel in human form 
came to his side, the mob fell back, and the servant of Christ 
passed in safety from the place of danger. 

Of his deliverance from the enraged mob upon one of 
these occasions, Wesley said: "Many endeavored to throw 
me down while we were going down hill on a slippery path 
to the town; as well judging that if I were once on the 
ground, I should hardly rise any more. But I made no 
stumble at all, nor the least slip, till I was entirely out of 
their hands. Although many strove to lay hold on my 
collar or clothes, to pull me down, they could not fasten at 
all; only one got fast hold of the flap of my waistcoat, which 
was soon left in his hand; the other flap, in the pocket of 
which was a bank-note, was torn but half off. A lusty man 
just behind, struck at me several times, with a large oaken 
stick; with which if he had struck me once on the back part 
of my head, it would have saved him further trouble. But 
every time the blow was turned aside, I know not how; for 
I could not move the right hand nor the left. Another 
came rushing through the press, and raising his arm to 
strike, on a sudden let it drop, and only stroked my head^ 
saying, ' What soft hair he has.' . . . The very first men 



LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 250 



whose hearts were turned were the heroes of the town, the 
captains of the rabble on all occasions, one of them having 
been a prize lighter at the bear garden. 

"By how gentle degrees does God prepare us for his will! 
Two years ago, a pieee of brick grazed my shoulders. It 
was a year after that the stone struck me between the eyes. 
Last month I received one blow, and this evening two ; one 
before we came into the town, and one after we were gone 
out; but both were as nothing; for though one man struck 
me on the breast with all his might, and the other on the 
mouth with such force that the blood gushed out immedi- 
ately, I felt no more pain from either of the blow T s than if 
they had touched me with a straw." 

The Methodists of those early days — people as well as 
preachers — endured ridicule and persecution, alike from 
church-members and from the openly irreligious who were 
inflamed by their misrepresentations. They were arraigned 
before courts of justice — such only in name, for justice w T as 
rare in the courts of that time. Often they suffered vio- 
lence from their persecutors. Mobs went from house to 
house, destroying furniture and goods, plundering wmatever 
they chose, and brutally abusing men, women, and children. 
In some instances, public notices were posted, calling upon 
those who desired to assist in breaking the windows and 
robbing the houses of the Methodists to assemble at a given 
time and place. These open violations of both human and 
divine law were allowed to pass without a reprimand. A 
systematic persecution was carried on against a people whose 
only fault was that of seeking to turn the feet of sinners 
from the path of destruction to the path of holiness. 

Said John Wesley, referring to the charges against him- 
self and his associates: "Some allege that the doctrines of 
these men are false, erroneous, and enthusiastic; that they 
are new and unheard-of till of late ; that they are Quakerism, 
fanaticism, popery. This whole pretense has been already 
cut up by the roots, it having been shown at large that 
20 



260 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



every branch of this doctrine is the plain doctrine of 
Scripture interpreted by our own church. Therefore it can- 
not be false or erroneous, provided the Scripture be true." 
" Others allege that their doctrines are too strict ; that they 
make the way to Heaven too narrow; and this is in truth 
the original objection, as it was almost the only one for 
some time, and is secretly at the bottom of a thousand 
more which appear in various forms. But do they make 
the way to Heaven any narrower than our Lord and his 
apostles made it? Is their doctrine stricter than that of 
the Bible? Consider only a few plain texts: 'Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and 
thy neighbor as thyself.' 1 ' Every idle word that men shall 
speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judg- 
ment.' 2 ' Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever 
ye do, do all to the glory of God.' 3 

"If their doctrine is stricter than this, they are to blame; 
but you know in your conscience it is not. And who can 
be one jot less strict without corrupting the "Word of God? 
Can any steward of the mysteries of God be found faithful 
if he change any part of that sacred deposition? — No; he 
can abate nothing ; he can soften nothing ; he is constrained 
to declare to all men, I may not bring down the Scriptures 
to your taste. You must come up to it, or perish forever. The 
popular cry is, The un charitableness of these men ! Unchar- 
itable, are they? In what respect? Do they not feed the 
hungry and clothe the naked? No; that is not the thing; 
they are not wanting in this, but they are so uncharitable in 
judging; they think none can be saved but those who are of 
their own way." 

The spiritual declension which had been manifest in 
England just before the time of Wesley, was in great degree 
the result of Antinomia n J^aiJiiiig. Many affirmed that 
Christ had abolished the moral law, and that Christians are 

iLuke 10:27. 2 Matt. 12:36. 3 1 Cor. 10:31. 



LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS, 261 

therefore under no obligation to observe it; that a believer 
is freed from the "bondage of good works." Others, though 
admitting the perpetuity of the law, declared that it was 
unnecessary for ministers to exhort the people to obedience 
of its precepts, since those whom God had elected to salvation 
would, "by the irresistible impulse of divine grace, be led 
to the practice of piety and virtue," while those who were 
doomed to eternal reprobation "did not have it in their 
power to obey the divine law." 

Others, also holding that "the elect cannot fall from grace 
or forfeit the divine favor," arrived at the still more hideous 
conclusion that "the wicked actions they commit are not 
really sinful, nor to be considered as instances of the viola- 
tion of the divine law, and that consequently they have no 
occasion either to confess their sins or to break them off by 
repentance." Therefore, they declared that even one of the 
vilest of sins, "considered universally an enormous violation 
of the divine law, is not a sin in the sight of God," if com- 
mitted by one of the elect, "because it is one of the essential 
and distinctive characteristics of the elect, that they cannot 
do anything which is either displeasing to God or prohibited 
by the law." 

This monstrous doctrine is essentially the same as the 
Romish claim that " the pope can dispense above the law, 
and of wrong make right, by correcting and changing laws; " 
that "he can pronounce sentences and judgments in contra- 
diction . . . to the law of God and man." Both reveal the 
inspiration of the same master-spirit, — of him who, even 
among the sinless inhabitants of Heaven, began his work of 
seeking to break down the righteous restraints of the law of 
God. 

The doctrine of the divine decrees, unalterably fixing the 
character of men, had led many to a virtual rejection of the 
law of God. Wesley steadfastly opposed the errors of the 
Antinomia n teachers , and showed that this doctrine which 
led to Antinomianism was contrary to the Scriptures. 



262 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



"The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared 
to all men" "This is good and acceptable in the sight of 
God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to 
come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, 
and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ 
Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all." 1 The Spirit of 
God is freely bestowed, to enable every man to lay hold upon 
the means of salvation. Thus Christ, "the true Light," 
"lighteth every man that cometh into the Avorld." 2 Men 
fail of salvation through their own willful refusal of the gift 
of life. 

In answer to the claim that at the death of Christ the pre- 
^ cepts of the decalogue had been abolished with the ceremo- 
nial law, Wesley said: "The moral law, contained in the ten 
commandments, and enforced by the prophets, he did not 
take away. It was not the design of his coming to revoke 
any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, 
which ' stands fast as the faithful witness in Heaven.' . . . 
This was from the beginning of the world, being ' written 
not on tables of stone,' but on the hearts of all the children 
of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. 
And, however the letters once written by the finger of God 
are now in a great measure defaced by sin,. yet can they not 
wholly be blotted out, while we have any consciousness of 
good and evil. Every part of this law must remain in force 
upon all mankind, and in all ages ; as not depending either 
on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, 
but on the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their 
unchangeable relation to each other. 

"'I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.' . . . With- 
out question his meaning in this place is (consistently with 
all that goes before and follows after), — I am come to estab- 
lish it in its fullness, in spite of all the glosses of men ; I am 
y come to place in ji full and^clear view whatsoever was dark 
and obscure therein ; I am come to declare the true and full 
import of every part of it; to show the length and breadth, 

1 Titus 2:11; 1 Tim. 2 : 3-0. » John 1 ; 9. 



LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 263 



the entire extent, of every commandment contained therein, 
and the height and depth, the inconceivable purity and 
spirituality of it in all its branches." 

Wesley declared the perfect harmony of the law and' the 
gospel. "There is, therefore, the closest connection that can 
be conceived, between the law and the gospel. On the one 
hand, the law continually makes way for and points us to, 
the gospel; on the other, the gospel continually leads us to a 

\ more exact fulfilling of the law. The law, for instance, 
requires us to love God, to love our neighbor, to be meek, 
humble, or holy. We feel that we are not sufficient for 
these things ; yea, that ' with man this is impossible ; ' but we 
see a promise of God to give us that love, and to make us 
humble, meek, and holy ; we lay hold of this gospel, of these 
glad tidings; it is done to us according to our faith ; and 
the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, ■ through faith 
which is in Christ Jesus.'" 

\ "In the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of 

Christ," said Wesley, " are they who openly and explicitly 
'judge the law' itself, and 'speak evil of the law;' who teach 
men to break (to dissolve, to loose, to untie the obligation of) 
not one only, whether of the least or of the greatest, but all 
s the commandments at a stroke." " The most surprising of 
all the circumstances that attend this strong delusion, is that 
they who are given up to it, really believe that they honor 
Christ by overthrowing his law, and that they are magnifying 
his office, while they are destroying his doctrine! Yea, they 
honor him just as Judas did, when he said, 'Hail, Master, 
and kissed him.' And he may as justly say to every one of 
them, 'Betray est thou the Son of man with a kiss?' It is 
no other than betraying him with a kiss, to talk of his blood, 
and take away his crown ; to set light by any part of his 
law, under pretense of advancing his gospel. Nor indeed 
can anyone escape this charge, who preaches faith in any 
such a manner as either directly or indirectly tends to set 
aside any branch of obedience; who preaches Christ so as to 



264 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



disannul, or weaken in any wise, the least of the command- 
ments of God." 

To those who urged that "the preaching of the gospel 
answers all the ends of the law," Wesley replied: "This we 
utterly deny. It does not answer the very first end of the 
law, namely, the convincing men of sin, the awakening those 
who are still asleep on the brink of hell." The apostle 
Paul declares that "by the law is the knowledge of sin;" 
and not until man is convicted of sin, will he truly feel 
his need of the atoning blood of Christ. "'They that be 
whole,' as our Lord himself observes, 'need not a physician, 
but they that are sick.' It is absurd, therefore, to offer a 
physician to them that are whole, or that at least imagine 
themselves so to be. .You are first to convince them that 
they are sick ; otherwise they will not thank you for your 
labor. It is equally absurd to offer Christ to them whose 
heart is whole, having never yet been broken." 

Thus while preaching the gospel of the grace of God, 
Wesley, like his Master, sought to " magnify the law, and 
make it honorable." Faithfully did he accomplish the work 
given him of God, and glorious were the results which he 
was permitted to behold. At the close of his long life of 
more than fourscore years — above half a century spent in 
itinerant ministry — his avowed adherents numbered more 
than half a million souls. But the multitude that through 
his labors had been lifted from the ruin and degradation of 
sin to a higher and a purer life, and the number who by his 
teaching had attained to a deeper arid richer experience, will 
never be known till the whole family of the redeemed shall 
be gathered into the kingdom of God. His life presents a 
lesson of priceless worth to every Christian. Would that the 
faith and humility, the untiring zeal, self-sacrifice and devo- 
tion of this servant of Christ, might be reflected in the 
churches of to-day! 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

In the sixteenth century the Reformation, presenting an 
open Bible to the people, had sought admission to all the 
countries of Europe. Some nations welcomed it with glad- 
ness, as a messenger of Heaven. In other lands, popery 
succeeded, to a great extent, in preventing its entrance; and 
the light of Bible knowledge, with its elevating influences, 
was almost wholly excluded. In one country, though the 
light found entrance, it was not comprehended by the dark- 
ness. For centuries, truth and error struggled for the mas- 
tery. At last the evil triumphed, and the truth of Heaven 
was thrust out. " This is the condemnation, that light is 
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than 
light."- 1 The nation was left to reap the results of the course 
which she had chosen. The restraint of God's Spirit was 
removed from a people that had despised the gift of his 
grace. Evil was permitted to come to maturity. And all 
the world saw the fruit of willful rejection of the light. 

The war against the Bible, carried forward for so many 
centuries in France, culminated in the scenes of the Revo- 
lution. That terrible outbreaking was but the legitimate 
result of Rome's suppression of the Scriptures. It presented 
the most striking illustration which the world has ever 
witnessed, of the working out of the papal policy, — an illus- 
tration of the results to which for more than a thousand 
years the teaching of the Roman Church had been tending. 

The suppression of the Scriptures during the period of 
papal supremacy was foretold by the prophets; and the 

^ohn 3:19. 

(265) 



2C6 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Revelator points also to the terrible results that were to 
accrue especially to France from the domination of "the 
man of sin." 

Said the angel of the Lord : " The holy city [the true 
church] shall they tread under foot forty and two months. 
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they 
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore 
days, clothed in sackcloth. . . . And when they shall 
have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out 
of the bottomless pit shall nlake war against them, and 
shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies 
shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is 
called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 
. . . And they that • dwell upon the earth shall rejoice 
over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to 
another; because these two prophets tormented them that 
dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half the 
Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood 
upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw 
them." 1 

The periods here mentioned — "forty and two months," 
and "a thousand two hundred and threescore days" — are 
the same, alike representing the time in which the church 
of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1260 
years of papal supremacy began with the establishment of 
the papacy in a. d. 538, and would therefore terminate in 
1798. At that time a French army entered Rome, and 
made the pope a prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a 
new pope was soon afterward elected, the papal hierarchy 
has never since been able to wield the power which it before 
possessed. 

The persecution of the church did not continue through- 
out the entire period of the 1260 years. God in mercy to 
his people cut short the time of their fiery trial. In fore- 
telling the "great tribulation" to befall the church, the 
Saviour said, " Except those days should be shortened, there 

x Rev. 11 : 2-1 1 . 



THE BIBLE AND Till-: FRENCH REVOLUTION. 207 



should no flesh be saved ; but for the elect's sake those 
days shall be shortened." 1 Through the influence of the 
Reformation, the persecution was brought to an end prior 
to L798. 

Concerning the two witnesses, the prophet declares further, 
"These are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks 
standing before the God of the earth." " Thy Word," said 
the psalmist, "is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my 
path." 2 The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the 
Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimo- 
nies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both 
are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The types, sacri- 
fices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a 
Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New 
Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact 
manner foretold by type and prophecy. 

" They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three- 
score clays, clothed in sackcloth." During the greater part 
of this period, God's witnesses remained in a state of obscu- 
rity. The papal power sought to hide from the people the 
Word of truth, and set before them false witnesses to con- 
tradict its testimony. When the Bible was proscribed by 
religious and secular authority; when its testimony was 
perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could 
invent to turn the minds of the people from it ; when those 
who dared proclaim its sacred truths were hunted, betrayed, 
tortured, buried in dungeon cells, martyred for their faith, 
or compelled to flee to mountain fastnesses, and to dens and 
caves of the earth, — then the faithful witnesses prophesied 
in sackcloth. Yet they continued their testimony through- 
out the entire period of 1260 years. In the darkest times 
there were faithful men who loved God's Word, and were 
jealous for his honor. To these loyal servants were given 
wisdom, power, and authority to declare his truth during 
the whole of this time. 

1 Matt. 24 : 22. * Rev. 11 1 4 ; Pa. 119 : 105. 



268 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



"And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of 
their mouth and deyoureth their enemies; and if any man 
will hurt them, lie must in this manner be killed." 1 Men 
cannot with impunity trample upon the Word of Go'd. The 
meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the clos- 
ing chapter of the Revelation: "I testify unto every man 
that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any 
man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him 
the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man 
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, 
God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out 
of the holy city, and from the things which are written in 
this book." 2 

Such are the warnings which God has given to guard 
men against changing in any manner that which he has 
revealed or commanded. These solemn denunciations apply 
to all who by their influence lead men to lightly regard the 
law of God. They should cause those to fear and tremble 
who flippantly declare it a matter of little consequence 
whether we obey God's law or not. All who exalt their own 
opinions above divine revelation, all who would change the 
plain meaning of Scripture to suit their own convenience, 
or for the sake of conforming to the world, are taking upon 
themselves a fearful responsibility. The written Word, the 
law of God, will measure the character of every man, and 
condemn all whom this unerring test shall declare wanting. 

" When they shall have finished [are finishing] their testi- 
mony." The period when the two witnesses were to proph- 
esy clothed in sackcloth ended in 1798. As they were 
approaching the termination of their work in obscurity, war 
was to be made upon them by the power represented as "the 
beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit." In many 
of the nations of Europe the powers that ruled in Church 
and State had for centuries been controlled by Satan, through 
the medium of the papacy. But here is brought to view a 
new manifestation of Satanic power. 

x Rev. 11:5. * Rev. 22: 18, 19. 



THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 200 

It had been Koine's policy, under a profession o£ reverence 
for the Bible, to keep it locked up in an unknown tongue, 
and hidden away from the people. Under her rule the wit- 
nesses prophesied, "clothed in sackcloth." But another 
power the beast from the bottomless pit — was to arise to 
make open, avowed war upon the "Word of God. 

The "great city" in whose streets the witnesses are slain, 
and where their dead bodies lie, "is spiritually Egypt." 
Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most 
boldly denied the existence of the living God, and resisted 
his commands. Xo monarch ever ventured upon more open 
and high-handed rebellion against the authority of Heaven 
than did the king of Egypt. When the message was 
brought him by Moses, in the name of the Lord, Pharaoh 
proudly answered, "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey 
his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, neither will 
I let Israel go." 1 This is atheism; and the nation rep- 
resented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of 
the claims of the living God, and would manifest a like 
spirit of unbelief and defiance. The "great city" is also 
compared, "spiritually," to Sodom. The corruption of 
Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially manifested 
in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a pre-eminent 
characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifica- 
tions of this scripture. 

According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before 
the year 1798 some power of Satanic origin and character 
would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land 
where the testimony of God's two Avitnesses should thus be 
silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh, 
and the licentiousness of Sodom. 

This prophecy has received a most exact and striking ful- 
fillment in the history of France. During the Revolution of 
1793, "the world for the first time heard an assembly of 
men, born and, educated in civilization, and assuming the 
right to govern one of the finest European nations, uplift 

1 Ex. 5:2. 



270 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which 
man's soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief 
and worship of the Deity." "France is the only nation in 
the world concerning which the authentic record survives, 
that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion 
against the Author of the universe. Plenty of blasphemers, 
plenty of infidels, there have been, and still continue to be, 
in England, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere; but France 
stands apart in the world's history as the single State which, 
by the decree of her legislative assembly, pronounced that 
there was no God, and of which the entire population of the 
capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as 
men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announce- 
ment." 

France presented also the characteristic which especially 
distinguished Sodom. During the Revolution there was 
manifest a state of moral debasement and corruption simi- 
lar to that which brought destruction upon the cities of the 
plain. And the historian presents together the atheism and 
licentiousness of France, as it is given in the prophecy: 
" Intimately connected with these laws affecting religion was 
that which reduced the union of marriage — the most sacred 
engagement which human beings can form, and the perma- 
nence of which leads most strongly to the consolidation of 
society — to a state of mere civil contract of a transitory char- 
acter, which any two persons might engage in and cast loose 
at pleasure. ... If fiends had set themselves at work 
to discover a mode of most effectually destroying whatever is 
venerable, graceful, or permanent in domestic life, and obtain- 
ing: at the same time an assurance that the mischief which it 
was their object to create should be perjDetuated from one 
generation to another, they could not have invented a more 
effectual plan than the degradation of marriage. . . . 
Sophie Arnoult, an actress famous for the witty things she 
said, described the republican marriage as the 'sacrament of 
adultery.'" 



THE BIBLE A ND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 271 

"Where also our Lord was crucified." This specification 
of the prophecy was also fulfilled by France. In no laud 
had the spirit of enmity against Christ been more strikingly 
displayed. In no country bad the truth encountered more 
bitter and cruel opposition. In the persecution which 
Fiance bad visited upon the confessors of the gospel, she had 
crucified Christ in the person of his disciples. 

Century after century the blood of the saints had been 
shed. While the Waldenses laid down their lives upon the 
mountains of Piedmont " for the Word of God, and for the 
testimony of Jesus Christ," similar witness to the truth had 
been borne by their brethren, the Albigenses of France. In 
the days of the Reformation, its disciples had been put to 
death with horrible tortures. King and nobles, high-born 
women and delicate maidens, the pride and chivalry of the 
nation, had feasted their eyes upon the agonies of the mar- 
tyrs of Jesus. The brave Huguenots, battling for those rights 
which the human heart holds most sacred, had poured out 
their blood on many a hard-fought field. The Protestants 
were counted as outlaws, a price was set upon their heads, 
and they were hunted down like wild beasts. 

The " Church in the Desert," the few descendants of the 
ancient Christians that still lingered in France in the eight- 
eenth century, hiding away in the mountains of the south, 
still cherished the faith of their fathers. As they ventured 
to meet by night on mountain-side or lonely moor, they 
were chased by dragoons, and dragged away to life-long 
slavery in the galleys. "The purest, the most refined, and 
the most intelligent of the French, were chained, in horrible 
torture, amidst robbers and assassins." Others, more merci- 
fully dealt with, were shot down in cold blood, as, unarmed 
and helpless, they fell upon their knees in prayer. Hundreds 
of aged men, defenseless women, and innocent children were 
left dead upon the earth at their place of meeting. In travers- 
ing the mountain-side or the forest, where they had been 
accustomed to assemble, it was not unusual to find " at every 



272 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



four paces dead bodies dotting the sward, and corpses hang- 
ing suspended from the trees." Their country, "laid waste 
with the sword, the ax, the fagot, was converted into a vast, 
gloomy wilderness." These atrocities were not committed 
during the Dark Ages, but in that brilliant era "when 
science was cultivated, and letters flourished ; when the 
divines of the court and the capital were learned and eloquent 
men, who greatly affected the graces of meekness and 
charity." 

But blackest in the black catalogue of crime, most horrible 
among the fiendish deeds of all the dreadful centuries, was 
the St. BartholomeAV Massacre. The world still recalls with 
shuddering horror the scenes of that most cowardly and 
cruel onslaught. The king of France, urged on by Romish 
priests and prelates, lent his sanction to the dreadful work. 
The great bell of the palace, tolling at dead of night, was a 
signal for the slaughter. Protestants by thousands, sleeping 
quietly in their homes, trusting to the plighted honor of 
their king, were dragged forth without a warning, and mur- 
dered in cold blood. 

Satan, in the person of the Roman zealots, led the van. 
As Christ was the invisible leader of his people from Egyp- 
tian bondage, so was Satan the unseen leader of his subjects 
in this horrible work of multiplying martyrs. For seven 
days the massacre was continued in Paris, the first three 
with inconceivable fury. And it was not confined to the 
city itself, but by special order of the king extended to all 
provinces and towns where Protestants were found. Neither 
age nor sex was respected. Neither the innocent babe nor 
the man of gray hairs was spared. Noble and peasant, old 
and young, mother and child, were cut down together. 
Throughout France the butchery continued for two months. 
Seventy thousand of the very flower of the nation perished. 

" The pope, Gregory XIII., received the news of the fate of 
the Huguenots with unbounded joy. The w T ish of his 
heart had been gratified, and Charles IX. was now his favor- 



77//: ttlttLi: .1 SD THE F&ENCR REVOLUTION. 273 



ite son. Rome rang with rejoicings. The guns of the cas- 
tle of St. Angelo gave forth a joyous salute; the bells sounded 
from every tower; bonfires blazed throughout the night; 
and Gregory, attended by his cardinals and priests, led the 
magnificent procession to the church of St. Louis, where 
the cardinal of Lorraine chanted a Te Deum. The cry of the 
dying host in France was gentle harmony to the court of 
Rome. A medal was struck to commemorate the glorious 
massacre; a picture, which still exists in the Vatican, was 
I >aintcd, representing the chief events of St. Bartholomew. 
The pope, eager to show his gratitude to Charles for his duti- 
ful conduct, sent him the Golden Rose; and from the pul- 
pits of Rome eloquent preachers celebrated Charles, Cath- 
erine, and the Guises as the new founders of the papal 
church." 

The same master-spirit that urged on the St. Bartholomew 
Massacre led also in the scenes of the Revolution. Jesus 
Christ was declared to be an impostor, and the rallying cry 
of the French infidels was, " Crush the Wretch," meaning 
Christ. Heaven-daring blasphemy and abominable wicked- 
ness went hand in hand, and the basest of men, the most 
abandoned monsters of cruelty and vice, were most highly 
exalted. In all this, supreme homage was paid to Satan; 
while Christ, in his characteristics of truth, purity, and 
unselfish love, was crucified. 

" The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall 
make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill 
them." The atheistical power that ruled in France during 
the Revolution and the reign of terror, did wage such a war 
upon the Bible as the world had never witnessed. The 
Word of God was prohibited by the national assembly. 
Bibles were collected and publicly burned with every pos- 
sible manifestation of scorn. The law of God was trampled 
under foot. The institutions of the Bible were abolished. 
The weekly rest-day was set aside, and in its stead every 
tenth day was devoted to reveling and blasphemy. Baptism 

21 



274 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



and the communion were prohibited. And announcements 
posted conspicuously over the burial-places declared death 
to be an eternal sleep. 

The fear of God was said to be so far from the beginning 
of wisdom that it was the beginning of folly. All religious 
worship was prohibited, except that of liberty and the 
country. "The constitutional bishop of Paris was brought 
forward to play the principal part in the most impudent and 
scandalous farce ever enacted in the face of a national rep- 
resentation. . . . He was brought forward in full pro- 
cession, to declare to the convention that the religion which 
he had taught so many years was, in every respect, a piece 
of priestcraft, which had no foundation either in history or 
in sacred truth. He disowned iii solemn and explicit terms 
the existence of the Deity, to whose worship he had been 
consecrated, and devoted himself in future to the homage of 
liberty, equality, virtue, and morality. He then laid on the 
table his episcopal decorations, and received a fraternal 
embrace from the president of the convention. Several 
apostate priests followed the example of this prelate." 

"And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over 
them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; 
because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on 
the earth." Infidel France had silenced the reproving voice 
of God's two witnesses. The Word of truth lay dead in 
her streets, and those who hated the restrictions and require- 
ments of God's law were jubilant. Men publicly defied 
the King of Heaven. Like the sinners of old, they cried, 
"How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most 
High?" 1 

With blasphemous boldness almost beyond belief, one of 
the priests of the new order said: "God, if you exist, avenge 
your injured name. I bid you defiance! You remain 
silent. You dare not launch your thunders! Who, after 
this, will believe in your existence?" What an echo is this 

Ps. 73:11. 



THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCB REVOLUTION. 275 

of the Pharaoh's demand: " Wlio is Jehovah, that 1 should 
obey his voice?" " I know not Jehovah!" 

" The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." ' And 
the Lord declares concerning the perverters of the truth, 
•• Their folly shall be manifest unto all." 2 After France had 
renounced the worship of the living God, "the high and 
lofty One that inhabiteth eternity," it was only a little time 
till she descended to degrading idolatry, by the worship of 
the Goddess of Reason, in the person of a profligate woman. 
And this in the representative assembly of the nation, and 
by its highest civil and legislative authorities! Says the 
historian: '"One of the ceremonies of this insane time stands 
unrivaled for absurdity combined with impiety. The doors 
of the convention were thrown open to a band of musicians, 
preceded by whom the members of the municipal body 
entered in solemn procession, singing a hymn in praise of 
liberty, and escorting, as the object of their future worship, 
a veiled female whom they termed the Goddess of Reason. 
Being brought within the bar, she was unveiled with great 
form, and placed on the right hand of the president, when 
she was generally recognized as a dancing girl of the opera. 
. . . To this person, as the fittest representative of that 
reason whom they worshiped, the national convention of 
France rendered public homage. This impious and ridic- 
ulous mummery had a certain fashion; and the installation 
of the Goddess of Reason was renewed and imitated through- 
out the nation in such places where the inhabitants desired 
to show themselves equal to all the heights of the Rev- 
olution." 

Said the orator who introduced the worship of reason: 
"Legislative fanaticism has lost its hold; it has given place 
to reason. We have left its temples; they are regenerated. 
To-day an immense multitude are assembled under its gothic 
roofs, which, for the first time, will re-echo the voice of truth.. 
There the French will celebrate the true worship, that of 

x Ps. 14:1. 2 2Tim. 3 : 9. 



276 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Liberty and Reason. There we will form new vows for the 
prosperity of the armies of the Republic; there we will 
abandon the worship of inanimate idols for that of Reason — 
this animated image, the masterpiece of creation." 

When the goddess was brought into the convention, the 
orator took her by the hand, and turning to the assembly 
said : " Mortals, cease to tremble before the powerless thun- 
ders of a God whom your fears have created. Henceforth 
acknowledge no divinit}^ but Reason. I offer you its noblest 
and purest image; if you must have idols, sacrifice only to 
such as this. . . . Fall before the august senate of 
freedom, veil of Reason." 

" The goddess, after being embraced by the president, was 
mounted on a magnificent car, and conducted, amidst an 
immense crowd, to the cathedral of Notre Dame, to take the 
place of the Deity. Then she was elevated on the high 
altar, and received the adoration of all present." 

This was followed, not long afterward, by the public burn- 
ing of the Bible. And "the popular society of the museum 
entered the hall of the municipality, exclaiming, Vive la 
Raison ! and carrying on the top of a pole the half-burned 
remains of several books, among others the breviaries of the 
Old and New Testaments, which ' expiated in a great fire,' 
said the president, ' all the fooleries which they have made 
the human race commit.'" 

It was popery that had begun the work which atheism 
was completing. The policy of Rome had wrought out 
those conditions, social, political, and religious, that were 
hurrying France on to ruin. A writer, speaking of the 
horrors of the Revolution, says: "Those excesses are in truth 
to be charged upon the throne and the church." In strict 
justice they are to be charged upon the church. Popery had 
poisoned the minds of kings against the Reformation, as an 
enemy to the crown, an element of discord that would be 
fatal to the peace and harmony of the nation. It was the 
genius of Rome that by this means inspired the direst cru- 



THE BIBLE ASP THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 277 



elty and the moist galling oppression which proceeded from 
the throne. 

The spirit of liberty went with the Bible. Wherever the 
gospe] was received, the minds of the people were awakened. 
They began to cast off the shackles that had held them 
bondslaves of ignorance, vice, and superstition. They began 
to think and act as men. Monarchs saw it, and trembled 
for their despotism. 

Rome was not slow to inflame their jealous fears. Said 
the pope to the regent of France in 1523: "This mania 
[Protestantism] will not only destroy religion, but all prin- 
cipalities, nobilities, laws, orders, and ranks besides." A few 
years later a papist dignitary warned the king, "If you 
wish to preserve your sovereign rights intact ; if you wish to 
keep the nations submitted to you in tranquillity, manfully 
defend the Catholic faith, and subdue all its enemies by your 
arms." And theologians appealed to the prejudices of the 
people by declaring that the Protestant doctrine " entices 
men away to novelties and folly; it robs the king of the 
devoted affection of his subjects, and devastates both Church 
and State." Thus Rome succeeded in arraying France 
against the Reformation. "It was to uphold the throne, 
preserve the nobles, and maintain the laws, that the sword 
of persecution was first unsheathed in France." 

Little did the rulers of the land foresee the results of that 
fateful policy. The teaching of the Bible would have 
implanted in the minds and hearts of the people those princi- 
ples of justice, temperance, truth, equity, and benevolence 
which are the very corner-stone of a nation's prosperity. 
"Righteousness exalteth a nation." Thereby "the throne is 
established." l "The work of righteousness shall be peace; " 
and the effect, "quietness and assurance forever." 2 He who 
obeys the divine law will most truly respect and obey the laws 
of his country. He who fears God w T ill honor the king in the 
exercise of all just and legitimate authority. But unhappy 
France prohibited the Bible, and banned its disciples. Cent- 

1 Prov. 14: 34; 16: 12. 2 Isa. 32 ; 17. 



278 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



my after century, men of principle and integrity, men of 
intellectual acuteness and moral strength, who had the cour- 
age to avow their convictions, and the faith to suffer for the 
truth, — for centuries these men toiled as slaves in the gal- 
leys, perished at the stake, or rotted in dungeon cells. 
Thousands upon thousands found safety in flight; and this 
continued for two hundred and fifty years after the opening 
of the Reformation. 

"Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during 
that long period that did not witness the disciples of the gos- 
pel fleeing before the insane fury of the persecutor, and car- 
rying with them the intelligence, the arts, the industry, the 
order, in which, as a rule, they pre-eminently excelled, to 
enrich the land in which they found an asylum. And in 
proportion as they replenished other countries with these 
good gifts, did they empty their own of them. If all that 
was now driven away had been retained in France ; if, dur- 
ing these three hundred years, the industrial skill of the 
exiles had been cultivating her soil ; if, during these three 
hundred years, their artistic bent had been improving her 
manufactures; if, during these three hundred years, their 
creative genius and analytic power had been enriching 
her literature and cultivating her science; if their wisdom 
had been guiding her councils, their bravery fighting her 
battles, their equity framing her laws, and the religion 
of the Bible strengthening the intellect and governing the 
conscience of her people, what a glory would at this day have 
encompassed France ! What a great, prosperous, and happy 
country — a pattern to the nations — would she have been ! 

"But a blind and inexorable bigotry chased from her soil 
every teacher of virtue, every champion of order, every hon- 
est defender of the throne; it said to the men who would 
have made their country a ' renown and glory' in the earth, 
Choose which you will have, a stake or exile. At last the 
ruin of the State was complete; there remained no more 
conscience to be proscribed ; no more religion to be dragged 



THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 279 



to the stake- no more patriotism to be chased into banish- 
ment." And the Revolution, with all its horrors, was the 
dire result, 

"With the flight of the Huguenots a general decline set- 
tled upon France. Flourishing manufacturing cities fell 
into decay; fertile districts returned to their native wildness ; 
intellectual dullness and moral declension succeeded a period 
of unwonted progress. Paris became one vast almshouse, 
and it is estimated that, at the breaking out of the Revo- 
lution, two hundred thousand paupers claimed charity from 
the hands of the king. The Jesuits alone flourished in the 
decaying nation, and ruled with dreadful tyranny over 
churches and schools, the prisons and the galleys." 

The gospel would have brought to France the solution of 
those political and social problems that baffled the skill of her 
clergy, her king, and her legislators, and finally plunged the 
nation into anarchy and ruin. But under the domination 
of Rome, the people had lost the Saviour's blessed lessons of 
self-sacrifice and unselfish love. They had been led away 
from the practice of self-denial for the good of others. The 
rich had found no rebuke for their oppression of the poor, 
the poor no help for their servitude and degradation. The 
selfishness of the wealthy and powerful grew more and 
more apparent and oppressive. For centuries the greed and 
profligacy of the noble resulted in grinding extortion toward 
the peasant. The rich wronged the poor, and the poor hated 
the rich. 

In many provinces the estates were held by the nobles, 
and the laboring classes were only tenants ; they were at the 
mercy of their landlords, and were forced to submit to their 
exorbitant demands. The burden of supporting both the 
Church and the State fell upon the middle and lower classes, 
who were heavily taxed by the civil authorities and by the 
clergy. "The pleasure of the nobles was considered the 
supreme law ; the farmers and the peasants might starve, for 
aught their oppressors cared. . . . The people were com- 



280 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

pelled at every turn to consult the exclusive interest of the 
landlord. The lives of the agricultural laborers were lives of 
incessant work and unrelieved misery; their complaints, if 
they ever dared to complain, were treated with insolent con- 
tempt. The courts of justice would always listen to a noble as 
against a peasant ; bribes were notoriously accepted by the 
judges; and the merest caprice of the aristocracy had the 
force of law, by virtue of this system of universal corruption. 
Of the taxes wrung from the commonalty, by the secular 
magnates on the one hand, and the clergy on the other, not 
half ever found its way into the royal or episcopal treasury; 
the rest was squandered in profligate self-indulgence. And 
the men who thus impoverished their fellow-subjects were 
themselves exempt from taxation, and entitled by law or cus- 
tom to all the appointments of the State. The privileged 
classes numbered a hundred and fifty thousand, and for their 
gratification millions were condemned to hopeless and degrad- 
ing lives." 

The court was given up to luxury and profligacy. There 
was little confidence existing between the people and the 
rulers. Suspicion fastened upon all the measures of the 
government, as designing and selfish. For more than half 
a century before the time of the Revolution, the throne was 
occupied by Louis XV., who even in those evil times was 
distinguished as an indolent, frivolous, and sensual monarch. 
With a depraved and cruel aristocracy and an impoverished 
and ignorant lower class, the State financially embarrassed, 
and the people exasperated, it needed no prophet's eye to 
foresee a terrible impending outbreak. To the warnings of 
his counselors the king was accustomed to reply, " Try to 
make things go on as long as I am likely to live ; after my 
death it may be as it will." It was in vain that the neces- 
sity of reform was urged. He saw the evils, but had neither 
the courage nor the power to meet them. The doom await- 
ing France was but too truly pictured in his indolent and 
selfish answer, — " After me the deluge ! " 



THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 281 



By working upon the jealousy of the kings and the ruling 
classes, Rome had influenced them to keep the people in 
bondage, well knowing that the State would thus he weak- 
ened, and purposing by this means to fasten botli rulers and 
people in her thrall. With far-sighted policy she perceived 
that in order to enslave men effectually, the shackles must be 
hound upon their souls; that the surest way to prevent them 
from escaping their bondage was to render them incapable 
of freedom. A thousand-fold more terrible than the physical 
suffering which resulted from her policy, was the moral deg- 
radation. Deprived of the Bible, and abandoned to the 
teachings of bigotry and selfishness, the people were shrouded 
in ignorance and superstition, and sunken in vice, so that 
they were wholly unfitted for self-government. 

But the outworking of all this was widely different from 
what Rome had purposed. Instead of holding the masses in 
a blind submission to her dogmas, her work resulted in 
making them infidels and revolutionists. Romanism they 
despised as priestcraft. They beheld the clergy as a party to 
their oppression. The only god they knew was the god of 
Rome ; her teaching was their only religion. They regarded 
her greed and cruelty as the legitimate fruit of the Bible 
and they would have none of it. 

Rome had misrepresented the character of God, and per- 
verted his requirements, and now men rejected both the 
Bible and its Author. She had required a blind faith in her 
dogmas, under the pretended sanction of the Scriptures. In 
the reaction, Voltaire and his associates cast aside God's 
Word altogether, and spread everywhere the poison of infi- 
delity. Rome had ground down the people under her iron 
heel; and now the masses, degraded and brutalized, in 
their recoil from her tyranny cast off all restraint. Enraged 
at the glittering cheat to which they had so long paid hom- 
age, they rejected truth and falsehood together; and mistak- 
ing license for liberty, the slaves of vice exulted in their im- 
agined freedom. 



282 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



At the opening of the Revolution, by a concession of the 
king, the people were granted a representation exceeding 
that of the nobles and the clergy combined. Thus the balance 
of power was in their hands ; but they were not prepared to 
use it with wisdom and moderation. Eager to redress the 
wrongs they had suffered, they determined to undertake the 
reconstruction of society. An outraged populace, whose 
minds were filled with bitter and long-treasured memories 
of wrong, resolved to revolutionize the state of misery that 
had grown unbearable, and to revenge themselves upon 
those whom they regarded as the authors of their sufferings. 
The oppressed wrought out the lesson they had learned 
under tyranny, and became the oppressors of those who had 
oppressed them. 

Unhappy France reaped in blood the harvest she had sown. 
Terrible were the results of her submission to the controlling 
power of Rome. Where France, under the influence of Ro- 
manism, had set up the first stake at the opening of the 
Reformation, there the Revolution set up its first guillotine. 
On the very spot where the first martyrs to the Protestant 
faith were burned in the sixteenth century, the first victims 
were guillotined in the eighteenth. In repelling the gospel, 
which would have brought her healing, France had opened 
the door to infidelity and ruin. When the restraints of God's 
law were cast aside, it was found that the laws of man were 
inadequate to hold in check the powerful tides of human 
passion; and the nation swept on to revolt and anarchy. 
The war against the Bible inaugurated an era which stands 
in the world's history as " The Reign of Terror." Peace and 
happiness were banished from the homes and hearts of men. 
No one was secure. He who triumphed to-day was sus- 
pected, condemned to-morrow. Violence and lust held un- 
disputed sway. 

King, clergy, and nobles were compelled to submit to the 
atrocities of an excited and maddened people. Their thirst 
for vengeance was only stimulated by the execution of the 



THE BIBLE A XI) THE FRENCH HE VOLUTlON. 283 



king; and those who had decreed his death, soon followed 
1 1 i in to the scaffold. A general slaughter of all suspected 
of hostility to the Revolution was determined. The prisons 
were crowded, at one time containing more than two hun- 
dred thousand captives. The cities of the kingdom were 
tilled with scenes of horror. One party of revolutionists was 
against another party, and France became a vast field for 
contending masses, swayed by the fury of their passions. 
" In Paris one tumult succeeded another, and the citizens 
were divided into a medley of factions, that seemed intent 
on nothing but mutual extermination." And to add to the 
general misery, the nation became involved in a prolonged 
and devastating war with the great powers of Europe. " The 
country was nearly bankrupt, the armies were clamoring for 
arrears of pay, the Parisians were starving, the provinces 
were laid waste by brigands, and civilization was almost 
extinguished in anarchy and license." 

All too well the people had learned the lessons of cruelty 
and torture which Pome had so diligently taught. A day 
of retribution at last had come. It was not now the disciples 
of Jesus that were thrust into dungeons and dragged to the 
stake. Long ago these had perished or been driven into 
exile. Unsparing Pome now felt the deadly power of those 
whom she had trained to delight in deeds of blood. " The 
example of persecution which the clergy of France had 
exhibited for so many ages, was now retorted upon them 
with signal vigor. The scaffolds ran red with the blood of 
the priests. The galleys and the prisons, once crowded 
with Huguenots, were now filled with their persecutors. 
Chained to the bench and toiling at the oar, the Roman 
Catholic clergy experienced all those woes which their church 
had so freely inflicted on the gentle heretics." 

"Then came those days when the most barbarous of all 
codes was administered by the most barbarous of all tribu- 
nals; when no man could greet his neighbors, or say his 
prayers . . . without danger of committing a capital 



284 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



crime; when spies lurked in every corner; when the guil- 
lotine was long and hard at work every morning; when the 
jails were filled as close as the holds of a slave-ship; when 
the gutters ran foaming with blood into the Seine. . . . 
While the daily wagon-loads of victims were carried to their 
doom through the streets of Paris, the proconsuls, whom 
the soA r ereign committee had sent forth to the departments, 
reveled in an extravagance of cruelty unknown even in the 
capital. The knife of the deadly machine rose and fell too 
slow for their work of slaughter. Long rows of captives 
were mowed down with grape-shot. Holes were made in 
the bottom of crowded barges. Lyons was turned into a 
desert. At Arras even the cruel mercy of a speedy death 
was denied to the prisoners. All down the Loire, from 
Saumur to the sea, great flocks of crows and kites feasted on 
naked corpses, twined together in hideous embraces. No 
mercy was shown to sex or age. The number of young 
lads and of girls of seventeen who were murdered by that 
execrable government is to be reckoned by hundreds. Ba- 
bies torn from the breast were tossed from pike to pike along 
the Jacobin ranks." In the short space of ten years, mill- 
ions of human beings perished. 

All this was as Satan would have it. This was what for 
ages he had been working to secure. His policy is deception 
from first to last, and his steadfast purpose is to bring woe and 
wretchedness upon men, to deface and defile the workman- 
ship of God, to mar the divine purposes of benevolence and 
love, and thus cause grief in Heaven. Then by his deceptive 
arts he blinds the minds of men, and leads them to throw 
back the blame of his work upon God, as if all this misery 
were the result of the Creator's plan. In like manner, when 
those who have been degraded and brutalized through his 
cruel power achieve their freedom, he urges them on to 
excesses and atrocities. Then this picture of unbridled 
license is pointed out by tyrants and oppressors as an illus- 
tration of the results of liberty. 



Till-: BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 285 



When error in one garb has been detected, Satan only 
masks it in a different disguise, and multitudes receive it as 
eagerly as at the first. When the people found Romanism 
to be a deception, and he could not through this agency 
lead them to transgression of God's law, he urged them to 
regard all religion as a cheat, and the Bible a fable; and 
easting aside the divine statutes, they gave themselves up to 
unbridled iniquity. 

The fatal error which wrought such woe for the inhab- 
itants of France was the ignoring of this one great truth: 
that true freedom lies within the proscriptions of the law of 
God. " that thou hadst hearkened to my command- 
ments ! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy right- 
eousness as the waves of the sea." " There is no peace, saith 
the Lord, unto the wicked." " But whoso hearkeneth unto 
me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." 1 

Atheists, infidels, and apostates oppose and denounce God's 
law ; but the results of their influence prove that the well- 
being of man is bound up with his obedience of the divine 
statutes. Those who will not read the lesson from the book 
of God, are bidden to read it in the history of nations. 

When Satan wrought through the Romish Church to 
lead men away from obedience, his agency was concealed, 
and his work was so disguised that the degradation and 
misery which resulted were not seen to be the fruit of trans- 
gression. And his power was so far counteracted by the 
working of the Spirit of God, that his purposes were pre- 
vented from reaching their full fruition. The people did 
not trace the effect to its cause, and discover the source of 
their miseries. But in the Revolution, the law of God was 
openly set aside by the national council. And in the reign 
of terror which followed, the working of cause and effect 
could be seen by all. 

When France publicly prohibited the Bible, wicked men 
and spirits of darkness exulted in their attainment of the 
object so long desired, — a kingdom free from the restraints 

^sa. 48:18,22: Pro v. 1:33. 



286 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



of the law of God. Because sentence against an evil work 
was not speedily executed, therefore the heart of the sons of 
men was "fully set in them to do evil." 1 But the trans- 
gression of a just and righteous law must inevitably result 
in misery and ruin. Though not visited at once with 
judgments, the wickedness of men was nevertheless surely 
working out their doom. Centuries of apostasy and crime 
had been treasuring up wrath against the day of retribution; 
and wdien their iniquity was full, the despisers of God 
learned too late that it is a fearful thing to have worn out 
the divine patience. The restraining Spirit of God, which 
imposes a check upon the cruel power of Satan, was in a 
great measure removed, and he whose only delight is the 
wretchedness of men, was permitted to work his will. Those 
who had chosen the service of rebellion, were left to reap its 
fruits, until the land was filled with crimes too horrible for 
pen to trace. From devastated provinces and ruined cities 
a terrible cry was heard, — a cry of bitterest anguish. France 
was shaken as if by an earthquake. Religion, law, social 
order, the family, the State, and the Church, — all were 
smitten down by the impious hand that had been lifted 
against the law of God. Truly spake the wise man : " The 
wicked shall fall by his own wickedness." "Though a sin- 
ner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet 
surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God ? 
which fear before him; but it shall not be well with the 
wicked." 1 "They hated knowledge, and did not choose the 
fear of the Lord;" "therefore shall they eat of the fruit of 
their own way, and be filled with their own devices." 2 

God's faithful witnesses, slain by the blasphemous power 
that "ascendeth out of the bottomless pit," were not long to 
remain silent. "After three days and a half, the Spirit of 
life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their 
feet ; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." 3 It was 
in 1793 that the decree which prohibited the Bible j:>assed the 

fEccl. 8:11-13. 2 Prov. 1 :29, 31. 3 Eev. 11:11. 



THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOL UTION. 287 

French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution 
rescinding the decree, and granting toleration to the Script- 
ures, was adopted by the same body. The world stood aghast 
at the enormity of guilt which had resulted from a rejection 
of the Sacred Oracles, and men recognized the necessity of 
faith in God and his Word as the foundation of virtue and 
morality. Saith the Lord, "Whom hast thou reproached 
and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy 
voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the 
Holy One of Israel." 1 "Therefore, behold, I will this once 
cause them- to know, I will cause them to know mine hand 
and my might; and they shall know that my name is 
Jehovah." 2 

Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further : 
"And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto 
them, Come up hither/ And they ascended up to heaven in 
a cloud; and their enemies beheld them." 3 Since France 
made war upon God's two witnesses, they have been hon- 
ored as never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible 
Society was organized. This was followed by similar organ- 
izations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of 
Europe. In 1816, the American Bible Society was founded. 
When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been 
printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been 
translated into more than two hundred languages and dia- 
lects. By the efforts of Bible societies, since 1804, more 
than 187,000,000 copies of the Bible have been circulated. 

For the fifty years preceding 1792, little attention was 
given to the work of foreign missions. No new societies 
were formed, and there were but few churches that made 
any effort for the spread of Christianity in heathen lands. 
But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great 
change took place. Men became dissatisfied with the results 
of rationalism, and realized the necessity of divine revela- 
tion and experimental religion. The devoted Carey, who 

!Isa. 37:23. 2 Jer. 16:21. 3 Rev. 11 : 12. 

22 



288 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

in 1793 became the first English missionary to India, 
kindled anew the flame of missionary effort in England. 
In America, twenty years later, the zeal of a society of stu- 
dents, among whom was Adoniram Judson, resulted in the 
formation of the American Board of Foreign Missions, under 
whose auspices Judson went as a missionary from the United 
States to Burmah. From this time the work of foreign mis- 
sions attained an unprecedented growth. 

The improvements in printing have given an impetus to 
the work of circulating the Bible. The increased facilities 
for communication between different countries, the breaking 
down of ancient barriers of prejudice and national exclusive- 
ness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff of Rome, 
have opened the way' for the entrance of the Word of God. 
For some years the Bible has been sold without restraint in 
the streets of Rome, and it has now been carried to every 
part of the habitable globe. 

The infidel Voltaire once boastingly said, " I am weary of 
hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Chris- 
tian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice to 
overthrow it." A century has passed since his death. Mill- 
ions have joined in the war upon the Bible. But it is so 
far from being destroyed, that where there were a hundred 
in Voltaire's time, there are now ten thousand, yes, a hundred 
thousand copies of the Book of God. In the words of an 
early reformer concerning the Christian church, "Tire Bible 
is an anvil that has worn out many hammers." Saith the 
Lord, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; 
and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment 
thou shalt condemn." 1 

"The Word of our God shall stand forever." "All his 
commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, 
and are done in truth and uprightness." 2 Whatever is built 
upon the authority of man will be overthrown; but that 
which is founded upon the rock of God's immutable Word 
shall stand forever. 

ilsa. 54:17. 2 Isa. 40:8; Ps, 111:7, 8. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

The English reformers, while renouncing the doctrines 
of Romanism, had retained many of its forms. Thus though 
the authority and the creed of Rome were rejected, not a 
few of her customs and ceremonies were incorporated into 
the worship of the Church of England. It was claimed that 
these things were not matters of conscience; that though 
they were not commanded in Scripture, and hence were 
non-essential, yet not being forbidden, they were not intrin- 
sically evil. Their observance tended to narrow the gulf 
which separated the reformed churches from Rome, and it 
was urged that they would promote the acceptance of the 
Protestant faith by Romanists. 

To the conservative and compromising, these arguments 
seemed conclusive. But there was another class that did 
not so judge. The fact that these customs tended to bridge 
the chasm between Rome and the Reformation, was in their 
view a conclusive argument against retaining them. They 
looked upon them as badges of the slavery from which they 
had been delivered, and to which they had no disposition to 
return. They reasoned that God has in his Word estab- 
lished the regulations governing his worship, and that men 
are not at liberty to add to these or to detract from them. 
The very beginning of the great apostasy was in seeking to 
supplement the authority of God by that of the church. 
Rome began by enjoining what God had not forbidden, and 
she ended by forbidding what he had explicitly enjoined. 

Many earnestly desired to return to the purity and sim- 
plicity which characterized the primitive church. They 

(289) 



290 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

regarded many of the established customs of the English 
church as monuments of idolatry, and they could not in 
conscience unite in her worship. But the church, being 
supported by the civil authority, would permit no dissent 
from her forms. Attendance upon her service was required 
by law, and unauthorized assemblies for religious worship 
were prohibited, under penalty of imprisonment, exile, and 
death. 

At the opening of the seventeenth century the monarch 
who had just ascended the throne of England declared his 
determination to make the Puritans "conform, or harry them 
out of the land, or else worse." Hunted, persecuted, and 
imprisoned, they could discern in the future no promise of 
better days, and many' yielded to the conviction that for 
such as would serve God according to the dictates of their 
conscience, "England had ceased forever to be a habit- 
able spot." Some at last determined to seek refuge in Hol- 
land. Difficulties, losses, and imprisonment were encoun- 
tered. Their purposes were thwarted, and they were betrayed 
into the hands of their enemies. But steadfast perseverance 
finally conquered, and they found shelter on the friendly 
shores of the Dutch Republic. 

In their flight they had left their houses, their goods, and 
their means of livelihood. They were strangers in a strange 
land, among a people of different language and customs. 
They were forced to resort to new and untried occupations 
to earn their bread. Middle-aged men, who had spent their 
lives in tilling the soil, had now to learn mechanical trades. 
But they cheerfully accepted the situation, and lost no 
time in idleness or repining. Though often pinched with 
poverty, they thanked God for the blessings which were still 
granted them, and found their joy in unmolested spiritual 
communion. " They knew they were pilgrims, and looked 
not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, 
their dearest country, and quieted their spirits." 

In the midst of exile and hardship, their love and faith 



THE PILGRIM FA TIIERS. 291 

waxed strong. They trusted the Lord's promises, and he 
did not fail them in time of need. His angels were by their 
side, to encourage and support them. And when God's 
hand seemed pointing them across the sea, to a land where 
they might found for themselves a State, and leave to their 
children the precious heritage of religious liberty, they 
went forward, without shrinking, in the path of Providence. 

God had permitted trials to come upon his people to pre- 
pare them for the accomplishment of his gracious purpose 
toward them. The church had been brought low, that she 
might be exalted. God was about to display his power in 
her behalf, to give to the world another evidence that he 
will not forsake those who trust in him. He had overruled 
events to cause the wrath of Satan and the plots of evil men 
to advance his glory, and to bring his people to a place of 
security. Persecution and exile were opening the way to 
freedom. 

When first constrained to separate from the English church, 
the Puritans had joined themselves together by a solemn 
covenant, as the Lord's free people, "to walk in all his ways, 
made known or to be made known to them." Here was 
the true spirit of reform, the vital principle of Protestantism. 
It was with this purpose that the Pilgrims departed from 
Holland to find a home in the New World. John Eobinson, 
their pastor, who was providentially prevented from accom- 
panying them, in his farewell address to the exiles said : — 

" Brethren, we are now erelong to part asunder, and the 
Lord knoweth whether I shall live ever to see your faces 
more; but whether the Lord hath appointed that or not, I 
charge you before God and his blessed angels to follow me no 
farther than I have followed Christ. If God should reveal 
anything to you by any other instrument of his, be as ready 
to receive it as you ever were to receive any truth by my min- 
istry ; for I am very confident that the Lord hath more truth 
and light yet to break forth out of his Holy Word. For my 
part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed 



292 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go 
no farther than the instruments of their reformation. The 
Lutherans cannot be drawn to go any farther than what 
Luther saw, and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they 
were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all 
things. This is a misery much to be lamented; for though 
they were burning and shining lights in their time, yet they 
penetrated not into the whole counsel of God, but were they 
now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as 
that which they first received. 

"Remember your church covenant, in which you have 
agreed to walk in all the ways of the Lord, made known 
or to be made known unto you. Remember your promise 
and covenant with God and with one another, to receive 
whatever light and truth shall be made known to you from 
his written Word. But, withal, take heed, I beseech you, 
what you receive as truth. Examine it, consider it, compare 
it with other scriptures of truth before you receive it; for 
it is not possible that the Christian world should come 
so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that 
perfection of knowledge should break forth at once." 

It was the desire for liberty of conscience that inspired the 
Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across the 
sea, to endure the hardships and dangers of the wilderness, 
and with God's blessing to lay, on the shores of America, the 
foundation of a mighty nation. Yet honest and God-fearing 
as they were, the Pilgrims did not yet comprehend the great 
principle of religious toleration. The freedom which they 
sacrificed so much to secure for themselves, they were not 
equally ready to grant to others. "Very few, even of the 
foremost thinkers and moralists of the seventeenth century, 
had any just conception of that grand principle, the out- 
growth of the New Testament, which acknowledges God as 
the sole judge of human faith." The doctrine that God has 
committed to the church the right to control the conscience, 
and to define and punish heresy, is one of the most deeply 



THE PIL GRIM FA THERS. 293 

rooted of papal errors. While the reformers rejected the 
creed of Rome, they were not entirely free from her spirit of 
intolerance. The dense darkness in which, through the 
long ages of her rule, popery had enveloped all Christendom, 
had not even yet been wholly dissipated. Said one of the 
leading ministers in the colony of Massachusetts Bay: "It 
was toleration that made the world antichristian ; and the 
church never took harm by the punishment of heretics." 
The regulation was adopted by the colonists, that only 
church-members should have a voice in the civil govern- 
ment. A kind of State church was formed, all the people 
being required to contribute to the support of the clergy, and 
the magistrates being authorized to suppress heresy. Thus 
the secular power was in the hands of the church. It was 
not long before these measures led to the inevitable result — 
persecution. 

Eleven years after the planting of the first colony, Roger 
Williams came to the New World. Like the early Pilgrims, 
he came to enjoy religious freedom; but unlike them, he 
saw — what so few in his time had yet seen — that this free- 
dom was the inalienable right of all, whatever might be 
their creed. He was an earnest seeker for truth, with Robin- 
son holding it impossible that all the light from God's Word 
had yet been received. Williams " was the first person in 
modern Christendom to assert, in its plenitude, the doctrine 
of the liberty of conscience, the equality of opinions before 
the law." He declared it to be the duty of the magistrate 
to restrain crime, but never to control the conscience. " The 
public or the magistrates may decide," he said, "what is 
due from men to men, but when they attempt to prescribe 
a man's duty to God, they are out of place, and there can 
be no safety; for it is clear that if the magistrate has the 
power, he may decree one set of opinions or beliefs to-day 
and another to-morrow; as has been done in England by 
different kings and queens, and by the different popes and 
councils in the Roman Church; so that belief would be- 
come a heap of confusion." 



294 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Attendance at the services of the established church was 
required under a penalty of fine or imprisonment. "Will- 
iams reprobated the law; the worst statute of the English 
code was that which did but enforce attendance upon the 
parish church. To compel men to unite with those of a 
different creed, he regarded as an open violation of their 
natural rights ; to drag to public worship the irreligious and 
the unwilling, seemed like requiring hypocrisy. 'No one/ 
he said, 'should be forced to worship, or to maintain a 
worship, against his own consent,' 'What!' exclaimed his 
antagonist, amazed at his tenets, ' is not the laborer worthy 
of his hire?' 'Yes,' replied he, 'from those who hire him.'" 

Roger Williams was respected and beloved as a faithful 
minister, a man of rare gifts, of unbending integrity and 
true benevolence; yet his steadfast denial of the right of 
civil magistrates to authority over the church, and his 
demand for religious liberty, could not be tolerated. The 
application of this new doctrine, it was urged, would "sub- 
vert the fundamental state and government of the country." 
He was sentenced to banishment from the colonies, and 
finally, to avoid arrest, he was forced to flee, amid the cold 
and storms of winter, into the unbroken forest. 

" For fourteen weeks," he says, " I was sorely tossed in a bit- 
ter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean." " But 
the ravens fed me in the wilderness; " and a hollow tree often 
served him for a shelter. Thus he continued his painful 
flight through the snow and the trackless forest, until he 
found refuge with an Indian tribe whose confidence and 
affection he had won while endeavoring to teach them the 
truths of the gospel. 

Making his way at last, after months of change and wan- 
dering, to the shores of Narragansett Bay, he there laid the 
foundation of the first State of modern times that in the full- 
est sense recognized the right of religious freedom. The 
fundamental principle of Roger Williams' colony, was " that 
every man should have the right to worship God according 



Til E PIL GRIM FA TIIERS. 295 

to the light of his conscience." His little State, Rhode 
Island, became the asylnm of the oppressed, and it increased 
and prospered until its foundation principles — civil and 
religious liberty — became the corner-stones of the American 
Republic. 

In that grand old document which our forefathers set forth 
as their bill of rights — the Declaration of Independence — 
they declared : " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these 
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And the 
Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit terms, the 
inviolability of conscience : " No religious test shall ever be 
required as a qualification to any office of public trust under 
the United States." " Congress shall make no law respecting 
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise 
thereof." 

" The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal 
principle that man's relation to his God is above human 
legislation, and his right of conscience inalienable. Reason- 
ing was not necessary to establish this truth; we are con- 
scious of it in our own bosom. It is this consciousness, 
which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many 
martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that their duty to 
God was superior to human enactments, and that man could 
exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn 
principle which nothing can eradicate." 

As the tidings spread through the countries of Europe, 
of a land where every man might enjoy the fruit of his own 
labor, and obey the convictions of his conscience, thousands 
flocked to the shores of the New World. Colonies rapidly 
multiplied. " Massachusetts, by special law , offered free wel- 
come and aid, at the public cost, to Christians of any nation- 
ality who might fly beyond the Atlantic ' to escape from wars 
or famine, or the oppression of their persecutors.' Thus the 
fugitive and the down-trodden were, by statute, made the 



296 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

guests of the commonwealth." In twenty years from the 
first landing at Plymouth, as many thousand Pilgrims were 
settled in New England. 

To secure the object which they sought, "they were con- 
tent to earn a bare subsistence by a life of frugality and 
toil. They asked nothing from the soil but the reasonable 
returns of their own labor. No golden vision threw a 
deceitful halo around their path. . . . They were con- 
tent with the slow but steady progress of their social polity. 
They patiently endured the privations of the wilderness, 
watering the tree of liberty with their tears, and with the 
sweat of their brow, till it took deep root in the land." 

The Bible was held as the foundation of faith, the source 
of wisdom, and the charter of liberty. Its principles were 
diligently taught in the home, in the school, and in the 
church, and its fruits were manifest in thrift, intelligence, 
purity, and temperance. One might be for years a dweller 
in the Puritan settlements, and not " see a drunkard, nor 
hear an oath, nor meet a beggar." It was demonstrated 
that the principles of the Bible are the surest safeguards of 
national greatness. The feeble and isolated colonies grew 
to a confederation of powerful States, and the world marked 
with wonder the peace and prosperity of "a church with- 
out a pope, and a State without a king." 

But continually increasing numbers were attracted to the 
shores of America, actuated by motives widely different from 
those of the first Pilgrims. Though the primitive faith and 
purity exerted a widespread and moulding power, yet its 
influence became less and less as the numbers increased of 
those who sought only worldly advantage. 

The regulation adopted by the early colonists, of per- 
mitting only members of the church to vote or to hold 
office in the civil government, led to most pernicious results. 
This measure had been accepted as a means of preserv- 
ing the purity of the State, but it resulted in the corrup- 
tion of the church. A profession of religion being the 



THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 297 

condition of suffrage and office-holding, many, actuated 
solely by motives of worldly policy, united with the church, 
without a change of heart. Thus the churches came to 
consist, to a considerable extent, of unconverted persons; 
and even in the ministry were those who not only held 
errors of doctrine, but who were ignorant of the renewing 
power of the Holy Spirit. Thus again was demonstrated 
the evil results, so often witnessed in the history of the 
church from the days of Constantine to the present, of 
attempting to build up the church by the aid of the State, 
of appealing to the secular power in support of the gospel of 
Him who declared, "My kingdom is not of this world." 1 
The union of the church with the State, be the degree never 
so slight, while it may appear to bring the world nearer to 
the church, does in reality but bring the church nearer to 
the world. 

The great principle so nobly advocated by Kobinson and 
Roger Williams, that truth is progressive, that Christians 
should stand ready to accept all the light which may shine 
from God's Holy Word, was lost sight of by their descend- 
ants. The Protestant churches of America — and those of 
Europe as well — so highly favored in receiving the blessings 
of the Reformation, failed to press forward in the path of 
reform. Though a few faithful men arose, from time to 
time, to proclaim new truth, and expose long-cherished error, 
the majority, like the Jews in Christ's day, or the papists in 
the time of Luther, were content to believe as their fathers 
had believed, and to live as they had lived. Therefore 
religion again degenerated into formalism ; and errors and 
superstitions which would have been cast aside had the 
church continued to walk in the light of God's Word, were 
retained and cherished. Thus the spirit inspired by the 
Reformation gradually died out, until there was almost as 
great need of reform in the Protestant churches as in the 
Roman Church in the time of Luther. There was the same 
worldliness and spiritual stupor, a similar reverence for the 

iJohn 18:36. 



298 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

opinions of men, and substitution of human theories for the 
teachings of God's Word. 

The wide circulation of the Bible in the early part of the 
nineteenth century, and the great light thus shed upon the 
world, was not followed by a corresponding advance in 
knowledge of revealed truth, or in experimental religion. 
Satan could not, as in former ages, keep God's Word from 
the people ; it had been placed within the reach of all ; but 
in order still to accomplish his object, he led many to value 
it but lightly. Men neglected to search the Scriptures, and 
thus they continued to accept false interpretations, and to 
cherish doctrines which had no foundation in the Bible. 

Seeing the failure of his efforts to crush out the truth by 
persecution, Satan had again resorted to the plan of com- 
promise which led to the great apostasy and the formation 
of the Church of Borne. He had induced Christians to 
ally themselves, not now with pagans, but with those who 
by their devotion to the things of this world had proved 
themselves to be as truly idolaters as were the worshipers of 
graven images. And the results of this union were no less 
pernicious now than in former ages; pride and extravagance 
were fostered under the guise of religion, and the churches 
became corrupted. Satan continued to pervert the doctrines 
of the Bible, and traditions that were to ruin millions were 
taking deep root. The church was upholding and defending 
these traditions, instead of contending for " the faith which 
was once delivered to the saints." Thus were degraded the 
principles for which the reformers had done and suffered 
so much. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths 
revealed in the Bible is that of Christ's second coming, 
to complete the great work of redemption. To God's pil- 
grim people, so long left to sojourn in "the region and 
shadow of death," a precious, joy-inspiring hope is given 
in the promise of His appearing, who is " the resurrection 
and the life," to "bring home again his banished." The 
doctrine of the second advent is the very key-note of the 
sacred Scriptures. From the clay when the first pair turned 
their sorrowing steps from Eden, the children of faith have 
waited the coming of the Promised One to break the destroy- 
er's power and bring them again to the lost Paradise. Holy 
men of old looked forward to the advent of the Messiah in 
glory, as the consummation of their hope. Enoch, only the 
seventh in descent from them that dwelt in Eden, he who 
for three centuries on earth walked with his God, was per- 
mitted to behold from afar the coining of the Deliverer. 
" Behold," he declared, "the Lord cometh with ten thousands 
of his saints, to execute judgment upon all." * The patriarch 
Job in the night of his affliction exclaimed with unshaken 
trust: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall 
stand at the latter day upon the earth ; ... in my flesh 
shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes 
shall behold, and not another." 2 

The coming of Christ to usher in the reign of righteous- 
ness, has inspired the most sublime and impassioned utter- 
ances of the sacred writers. The poets and prophets of the 

1 Jude 14, 15. 2 Job 19 : 25-27. 

(299) 



300 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Bible have dwelt upon it in words glowing with celestial 
fire. The psalmist sung of the power and majesty of Israel's 
King: "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath 
shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. 
. . . He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the 
earth, that he may judge his people." 1 "Let the heavens 
rejoice, and let the earth be glad" "before the Lord; for he 
cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the 
world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." z 

Said the prophet Isaiah : "Awake and sing, ye that dwell 
in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth 
shall cast out the dead." "Thy dead men shall live, to- 
gether with my dead body shall they arise." " He will swal- 
low up death in victory ; and the Lord God will wipe away 
tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall 
he take away from off all the earth ; for the Lord hath spoken 
it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; 
we have waited for him, and he will save us. This is the 
Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice 
in his salvation." 3 

And Habakkuk, rapt in holy vision, beheld His appearing. 
" God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount 
Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was 
full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light." 
"He stood, and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove 
asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were 
scattered, the perpetual hills did bow; his ways are ever- 
lasting." "Thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy char- 
iots of salvation." " The mountains saw thee, and they trem- 
bled. . . The deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his 
hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habi- 
tation; at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the 
shining of thy glittering spear." " Thou wentest forth for 
the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine 
anointed." * 

iPs.50:2-^. 2 Ps. 96:11, 13. 

3 Isa. 26 : 19 ; 25 : 8, 9. * Hab. 3 : 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13. 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 301 

When the Saviour was about to be separated from his 
disciples, he comforted them in their sorrow with the assur- 
ance that he would come again: "Let not your heart be 
troubled." " In my Father's house are many mansions." 
" I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare 
a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto 
myself." 1 " The Son of man shall come in his glory, and 
all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the 
throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all 
nations." 2 

The angels who lingered upon Olivet after Christ's ascen- 
sion, repeated to the disciples the promise of his return: 
" This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, 
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into 
heaven." 3 And the apostle Paul, speaking by the Spirit of 
inspiration, testified: "The Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and 
with the trump of God." 4 Says the prophet of Patmos: 
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see 
him." 5 

About his coming cluster the glories of that " restitution 
of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all 
his holy prophets since the world began." 6 Then the long- 
continued rule of evil shall be broken; "the kingdoms of 
this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his 
Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever." 7 "The glory 
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it 
together." "The Lord God will cause righteousness and 
praise to spring forth before all the nations." He shall be 
"for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the 
residue of his people." 8 

It is then that the peaceful and long-desired kingdom of 
the Messiah shall be established under the whole heaven. 
" The Lord shall comfort Zion ; he will comfort all her waste 



1 John 14: 1-3. 


2 Matt. 25:31, 32. 


3 Actsl :11. 


4 1 Thess. 4:16. 


5 Rev. 1 :7. 


6 Acts 3:21. 


7 Rev. 11:15. 


8 Isa. 40:5; 61:11 


; 28:5. 



302 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her 
desert like the garden of the Lord." " The glory of Lebanon 
shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon." 
" Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken ; neither shall thy 
land any more be termed Desolate ; but thou shalt be called 
My Delight, and thy land Beulah." "As the bridegroom 
rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." 1 

The coming of the Lord has been in all ages the hope of 
his true followers. The Saviour's parting promise upon 
Olivet, that he would come again, lighted up the future for 
his disciples, filling their hearts with joy and hope, that 
sorrow could not quench, nor trials dim. Amid suffering 
and persecution, " the appearing of the great God and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ" was the "blessed hope." When the 
Thessalonian Christians were filled with grief as they buried 
their loved ones, who had hoped to live to witness the com- 
ing of the Lord, Paul, their teacher, pointed them to the 
resurrection, to take place at the Saviour's advent. Then 
the dead in Christ should rise, and together with the living 
be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. "And so," he 
said, " shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort 
one another with these words." 2 

On rocky Patmos the beloved disciple liears the promise, 
"Surely, I come quickly," and his longing response voices 
the prayer of the church in all her pilgrimage, " Even so, 
come, Lord Jesus." 3 

From the dungeon, the stake, the scaffold, where saints 
and martyrs witnessed for the truth, comes down the cent- 
uries the utterance of their faith and hope. " Being assured 
of Christ's personal resurrection, and consequently of their 
own at his coming, for this cause," says one of these Chris- 
tians, "they despised death, and were found to be above it." 
They were willing to go down to the grave, that they " might 
rise free." They looked for the " Lord to come from Heaven 
in the clouds with the glory of his Father," "bringing to the 

Usa. 51 :3 ; 35 : 2 ; 62 : 4, 5 (margin). * 1 Thess. 4 : 16-18. 

3Eev. 22:20. 



EERALDS OF THE MORNING. 303 

just the times of the kingdom." The Waldenses cherished 
the same faith. Wycliffe looked forward to the Redeemer's 
appearing as the hope of the church. 

Luther declared: "I persuade myself verily, that the day 
of Judgment Avill not he absent full three hundred years. 
God will not, cannot, suffer this wicked world much longer." 
" The great day is drawing near in which the kingdom of 
abominations shall be overthrown." 

" This aged world is not far from its end," said Melanc- 
thon. Calvin bids Christians "not to hesitate, ardently 
desiring the day of Christ's coming as of all events most 
auspicious;" and declares that "the whole family of the 
faithful will keep in view that day." " We must hunger 
after Christ, we must seek, contemplate," he says, "till the 
dawning of that great day, when our Lord will fully mani- 
fest the glory of his kingdom." 

"Has not our Lord Jesus carried up our flesh into 
Heaven?" said Knox, the Scotch reformer, "and shall he 
not return? We know that he shall return, and that with 
expedition." Ridley and Latimer, who laid down their 
lives for the truth, looked in faith for the Lord's coming. 
Ridley wrote: "The world without doubt — this I do believe, 
and therefore I say it— draws to an end. Let us with John, 
the servant of God, cry in our hearts unto our Saviour 
Christ, Come, Lord Jesus, come." 

" The thoughts of the coming of the Lord," said Baxter, 
"are most sweet and joyful to me." "It is the work of faith 
and the character of his saints to love his appearing and to 
look for that blessed hope." " If death be the last enemy to 
be destroyed at the resurrection, we may learn how earnestly 
believers should long and pray for the second coming of 
Christ, when this full and final conquest shall be made." 
" This is the day that all believers should long, and hope, 
and wait for, as being the accomplishment of all the work 
of their redemption, and all the desires and endeavors of 
their souls." "Hasten, Lord, this blessed day!" Such was 

23 



304 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

the hope of the apostolic church, of the " church in the wil- 
derness/' and of the reformers. 

Prophecy not only foretells the manner and object of 
Christ's coming, but presents tokens by which men are to 
know when it is near. Said Jesus: "There shall be signs 
in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars." 1 "The sun 
shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 
and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are 
in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see 
the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and 
glory." 2 The Eevelator thus describes the first of the signs 
to precede the second advent: "There, was a great earth- 
quake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and 
the moon become as blood." 3 

These signs were witnessed before the opening of the pres- 
ent century. In fulfillment of this prophecy there occurred, 
in the year 1755, the most terrible earthquake that has ever 
been recorded. Though commonly known as the earth- 
quake of Lisbon, it extended to the greater part of Europe, 
Africa, and America. It was felt in Greenland, in the West 
Indies, in the island of Madeira, in Norway and Sweden, 
Great Britain and Ireland. It pervaded an extent of not 
less than four million square miles. In Africa the shock 
was almost as severe as in Europe. A great part of Algiers 
was destroyed ; and a short distance from Morocco, a village 
containing eight or ten thousand inhabitants was swallowed 
up. A vast wave swept over the coast of Spain and Africa, 
engulfing cities, and causing great destruction. 

It was in Spain and Portugal that the shock manifested 
its extreme violence. At Cadiz the inflowing wave was said 
to be sixty feet high. Mountains — some of the largest in 
Portugal — "were impetuously shaken, as it were from the 
very foundation; and some of them opened at their sum- 
mits, which were split and rent in a wonderful manner, 
huge masses of them being thrown down into the subjacent 

1 Luke 21 : 25. 2 Mark 13 : 24-26. 3 Rev. 6 : 12. 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 305 



valleys. Flames are related to have issued from these 
mountains." 

At Lisbon "a sound of thunder was heard underground, 
and immediately afterward a violent shock threw down the 
greater part of that city. In the course of about six minutes 
sixty thousand persons perished. The sea first retired, and 
laid the bar dry, it then rolled in, rising fifty feet above its 
ordinary level." "The most extraordinary circumstance 
which occurred at Lisbon during the catastrophe, was the 
subsidence of the new quay, built entirely of marble, at an 
immense expense. A great concourse of people had collected 
there for safety, as a spot where they might be beyond the 
reach of falling ruins; but suddenly the quay sunk down 
with all the people on it, and not one of the dead bodies 
ever floated to the surface." 

The shock of the earthquake " was instantly followed by 
the fall of every church and convent, almost all the large 
and public buildings, and one-fourth of the houses. In about 
two hours afterward, fires broke out in different quarters, and 
raged with such violence for the space of nearly three days 
that the city was completely desolated. The earthquake 
happened on a holy day, when the churches and convents 
were full of people, very few of whom escaped." " The terror 
of the people was beyond description. Nobody wept ; it was 
beyond tears. They ran hither and thither, delirious with 
horror and astonishment, beating their faces and breasts, 
crying, ' Misericordia ! the ivorld's at an end ! ' Mothers forgot 
their children, and ran loaded with crucifixed images. 
Unfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection ; but 
in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor 
creatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people were 
buried in one common ruin." " Ninety thousand persons 
are supposed to have been lost on that fatal day." 

Twenty-five years later appeared the next sign mentioned 
in the prophecy, — the darkening of the sun and moon. 
What rendered this more striking was the fact that the 



30G THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

time of its fulfillment had been definitely pointed out. In 
the Saviour's conversation with his disciples upon Olivet, 
after describing the long period of trial for the church — the 
1260 years of papal persecution, concerning which he had 
promised that the tribulation should be shortened — he thus 
mentioned certain events to precede his coming, and fixed 
the time when the first of these should be witnessed: "In 
those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, 
and the moon shall not give her light." 1 The 1260 days, or 
years, terminated in 1798. A quarter of a century earlier, 
persecution had almost wholly ceased. Between these two 
dates, according to the words of Christ, the sun was to be dark- 
ened. On the 19th of May, 1780, this prophecy was fulfilled. 

" Almost if not altogether alone as the most mysterious 
and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind, . . . 
stands the dark day of May 19, 1780, — a most unaccount- 
able darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmos- 
phere in New England." That the darkness was not due 
to an eclipse is evident from the fact that the moon was 
then nearly full. It was not caused by clouds, or the thick- 
ness of the atmosphere, for in some localities where the dark- 
ness extended, the sky was so clear that the stars could be 
seen. Concerning the inability of science to assign a satis- 
factory cause for this manifestation, Herschel the astron- 
omer declares: " The dark day in North America was one of 
those wonderful phenomena of nature which philosophy is 
at a loss to explain." 

" The extent of the darkness was also very remarkable. It 
was observed at the most easterly regions of New England; 
westward, to the farthest part of Connecticut, and at Albany, 
N. Y. ; to the southward, it was observed all along the sea 
coast; and to the north, as far as the American settlements 
extended. It probably far exceeded those boundaries, but 
the exact limits were never positively known. With regard 
to its duration, it continued in the neighborhood of Boston 
for at least fourteen or fifteen hours." 

iMark 13:24. 



&ERALt)8 OF THE MORNING. 307 



"The morning was clear and pleasant, but about eight 
o'clock there was observed an uncommon appearance in the 
sun- There were no clouds, but the air was thick, having a 
smoky appearance, and the sun shone with a pale, yellow- 
ish hue, but kept growing darker and darker, until it was 
hid from sight/' There was ''midnight darkness at noon- 
day."' 

"The occurrence brought intense alarm and distress to 
multitudes of minds, as well as dismay to the whole brute 
creation, the fowls fleeing bewildered to their roosts, and the 
birds to their nests, and the cattle returning to their stalls." 
Frogs and night hawks began their notes. The cocks crew as 
at daybreak. Farmers were forced to leave their work in the 
fields. Business was generally suspended, and candles were 
lighted in the dwellings. " The Legislature of Connecticut 
was in session at Hartford, but being unable to transact 
business adjourned. Everything bore the appearance and 
gloom of night." 

The intense darkness of the day was succeeded, an hour 
or two before evening, by a partially clear sky, and the sun 
appeared, though it was still obscured by the black, heavy 
mist. But "this interval was followed by a return of the 
obscuration with greater density, that rendered the first 
half of the night hideously dark beyond all former experi- 
ence of the probable million of people who saw it. From 
soon after sunset until midnight, no ray of light from moon 
or star penetrated the vault above. It was pronounced 'the 
blackness of darkness!'" Said an eye-witness of the scene: 
"I could not help conceiving, at the time, that if every 
luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impen- 
etrable darkness, or struck out of existence, the darkness 
could not have been more complete." Though the moon 
that night rose to the full, "it had not the least effect to dis- 
pel the death-like shadows." After midnight the darkness 
disappeared, and the moon, when first visible, had the 
appearance of blood. 



308 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



The poet Whittier thus speaks of this memorable day — 

'"Twas on a May-day of the far old year 
Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell 
Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring, 
Over the fresh earth, and the heaven of noon, 
A horror of great darkness." 
" Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp 
To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter 
The black sky." 

May 19, 1780, stands in history as "The Dark Day." 
Since the time of Moses, no period of darkness of equal 
density, extent, and duration has ever been recorded. The 
description of this event, as given by the poet and the histo- 
rian, is but an echo of the words of the Lord, recorded by 
the prophet Joel, twenty-five hundred years previous to their 
fulfillment: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the 
moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the 
Lord come." 1 

Christ had bidden his people watch for the signs of his 
advent, and rejoice as they should behold the tokens of their 
coming King. " When these things begin to come to pass," 
he said, "then look up, and lift up your heads; for your 
redemption draweth nigh." He pointed his followers to the 
budding trees of spring, and said: "When they now shoot 
forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is 
now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things 
come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at 
hand." 2 

But as the spirit of humility and devotion in the church 
had given place to pride and formalism, love for Christ and 
faith in his coming had grown cold. Absorbed in worldliness 
and pleasure-seeking, the professed people of God were 
blinded to the Saviour's instructions concerning the signs of 
his appearing. The doctrine of the second advent had been 
neglected ; the scriptures relating to it were obscured by mis- 
i interpretation, until it was, to a great extent, ignored and 
forgotten. Especially was this the case in the churches of 
America. The freedom and comfort enjoyed by all classes 

1 Joel 2 ; 31. 2 Luke 21 : 28, 30, 31. 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 309 

of society, the ambitious desire for wealth and luxury, beget- 
ting an absorbing devotion to money-making, the eager 
rush for popularity and power, which seemed to be within 
the reach of all, led men to center their interests and hopes 
on the things of this life, and to put far in the future that 
solemn day when the present order of things should pass 
away. 

When the Saviour pointed out to his followers the signs 
of his return, he foretold the state of backsliding that would 
exist just prior to his second advent. There would be, as in 
the days of Noah, the activity and stir of worldly business 
and pleasure-seeking — buying, selling, planting, building, 
marrying, and giving in marriage — with forgetfulness of God 
and the future life. For those living at this time, Christ's 
admonition is : " Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time 
your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunken- 
ness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you 
unawares." "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye 
may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that 
shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." 1 

The condition of the church at this time is pointed out 
in the Saviour's words in the Revelation: "Thou hast a 
name that thou livest, and art dead." 2 And to those who 
refuse to arouse from their careless security, the solemn 
warning is addressed : " If therefore thou shalt not watch, I 
will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know 
what hour I will come upon thee." 2 

It was needful that men should be awakened to their 
danger ; that they should be roused to prepare for the solemn 
events connected with the close of probation. The prophet 
of God declares: "The day of the Lord is great and very 
terrible; and who can abide it?" 3 Who shall stand when 
He appeareth who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, 
and cannot look on iniquity?" 4 To them that cry, "My 
God, we know thee," yet have transgressed his covenant, 

1 Luke 21 : 34, 36. 2 Rev. 3:1,3. 

3 Joel2:ll. ±Hab. 1 : 13. 



310 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



and hastened after another god, 1 hiding iniquity in their 
hearts, and loving the paths of unrighteousness, to these, 
the day of the Lord is " darkness, and not light, even very 
dark, and no brightness in it," 2 " It shall come to pass at 
that time," saith the Lord, "that I will search Jerusalem with 
candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees; 
that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither 
will he do evil." 3 "I will punish the world for their evil, 
and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the 
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haugh- 
tiness of the terrible." 4 "Neither their silver nor their 
gold shall be able to deliver them;" "their goods shall 
become a booty, and their houses a desolation." 5 

The prophet Jeremiah, looking forward to this fearful 
time, exclaimed : " I am pained at my very heart." " I can- 
not hold my peace, because thou hast heard, my soul, 
the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction 
upon destruction is cried." 6 

" That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, 
a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and 
gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the 
trumpet and alarm." 7 " Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, 

. . . to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the 
sinners thereof out of it." 8 

In view of that great day the Word of God, in the most 
solemn and impressive language, calls upon his people to 
arouse from their spiritual lethargy, and to seek his face 
with repentance and humiliation : " Blow ye the trumpet in 
Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all 
the inhabitants of the land tremble ; for the day of the Lord 
cometh, for it is nigh at hand." "Sanctify a fast, call a 
solemn assembly. Gather the people, sanctify the congrega- 
tion, assemble the elders, gather the children. . . . Let 
the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out 

iHos. 8 :2, 1; Ps. 16:4. 2 Amos 5: 20. 3 Zeph: 1 : 12. 

4 Isa. 13:11. 5 Zeph. 1 : 18, 13? 6 Jer. 4: 19, 20. 

'Zeph. 1 :15, 16. 8 lsa. 13:9. 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 311 



of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, 
weep between the porch and the altar." "Turn ye even to 
me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, 
and with mourning. And rend your heart, and not your 
garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gra- 
cious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness." x 

To prepare a people to stand in the day of God, a great 
work of reform was to be accomplished. God saw that many 
of his professed people were not building for eternity, and in 
his mercy he was about to send a message of warning to 
arouse them from their stupor, and lead them to make ready 
for the coming of their Lord. 

This warning is brought to view in Revelation 14.. Here 
is a threefold message represented as proclaimed by heav- 
enly beings, and immediately followed by the coming of 
the Son of man "to reap the harvest of the earth." The 
first of these warnings announces the approaching Judg- 
ment, The prophet beheld an angel flying "in the midst of 
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them . 
that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, 
and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, 
and give glory to him ; for the hour of his Judgment is 
come; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and 
the sea, and the fountains of waters." 2 

This message is declared to be a part of the " everlasting 
gospel." The work of preaching the gospel has not been 
committed to angels, but has been intrusted to men. Holy 
angels have been employed in directing this work, they 
have in charge the great movements for the salvation of 
men ; but the actual proclamation of the gospel is performed 
by the servants of Christ upon the earth. 

Faithful men, who were obedient to the promptings of 
God's Spirit and the teachings of his Word, were to pro- 
claim this warning to the world. They were those who 
had taken heed to the "sure word of prophecy," the "light 

1 Joel 2:1, 15-18, 12, 13. *Rev. 14 : 6, 7. 



312 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the 
day-star arise." 1 They had been seeking the knowledge of 
God more than all hid treasures, counting it "better than 
the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine 
gold." 2 And the Lord revealed to them the great things of 
the kingdom. " The secret of the Lord is with them that 
fear him; and he will show them his covenant," 3 

It was not the leaders in the church who had an under- 
standing of this truth, and engaged in its proclamation. 
Had these been faithful watchmen, diligently and prayerfully 
searching the Scriptures, they would have known the time of 
night; the prophecies would have opened to them the events 
about to take place. But they did not occupy this position, 
and the message was given by another class. Said Jesus, 
"Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon 
you." 4 Those who turn away from the light which God has 
given, or who neglect to seek it when it is within their reach, 
are left in darkness. But the Saviour declares, " He that fol- 
loweth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the 
light of life." 5 Whoever is with singleness of purpose seek- 
ing to do God's will, earnestly heeding the light already 
given, will receive greater light; to that soul some star of 
heavenly radiance will be sent, to guide him into all truth. 

At the time of Christ's first advent, the priests and scribes 
of the holy city, to whom were intrusted the oracles of God, 
might have discerned the signs of the times, and proclaimed 
the coming of the Promised One. The prophecy of Micah 
designated his birthplace; 6 Daniel specified the time of his 
advent. 7 God had committed these prophecies to the Jew- 
ish leaders; they were without excuse if they did not know 
and declare to the people that the Messiah's coming was at 
hand. Their ignorance was the result of sinful neglect, 
The Jews were building monuments for the slain prophets 
of God, while by their deference to the great men of earth 
they were paying homage to the servants of Satan. Ab- 

1 2 Pet. 1:19. ^Prov. 3:14. 3 Ps. 25:14. ^ John 12:35. 
5 John 8:12. 6 Micah. 5:2. 7 Dan. 9:25. 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 313 



sorbed in their ambitious strife for place and power among 
men, they lost sight of the divine honors proffered them by 
the King of Heaven. 

With profound and reverent interest the elders of Israel 
should have been studying the place, the time, the circum- 
stances, of the greatest event in the world's history, — the 
coining of the Son of God to accomplish the redemption of 
man. All the people should have been watching and wait- 
ing that they might be among the first to welcome the 
world's Redeemer. But lo, at Bethlehem two weary trav- 
elers from the hills of Nazareth traverse the whole length 
of the narrow street to the eastern extremity of the town, 
vainly seeking a place of rest and shelter for the night. No 
doors are open to receive them. In a wretched hovel pre- 
pared for cattle, they at last find refuge, and there the Sav- 
iour of the world is born. 

Heavenly angels had seen the glory which the Son of God 
shared with the Father before the world was, and they had 
looked forward with intense interest to his appearing on 
earth as an event fraught with the greatest joy to all peo- 
ple. Angels were appointed to carry the glad tidings to 
those who were prepared to receive it, and who would joy- 
fully make it known to the inhabitants of the earth. Christ 
had stooped to take upon himself man's nature ; he was to 
bear an infinite weight of woe as he should make his soul 
an offering for sin; yet angels desired that even in his 
humiliation, the Son of the Highest might appear before men 
with a dignity and glory befitting his character. Would 
the great men of earth assemble at Israel's capital to greet 
his coming? Would legions of angels present him to the 
expectant company? 

An angel visits the earth to see who are prepared to wel- 
come Jesus. But he can discern no tokens of expectancy. 
He hears no voice of praise and triumph that the period 
of Messiah's coming is at hand. The angel hovers for a 
time over the chosen city and the temple where the divine 



314 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

presence was manifested for ages ; bnt even here is the same 
indifference. The priests, in their pomp and pride, are offer- 
ing polluted sacrifices in the temple. The Pharisees are 
with loud voices addressing the people, or making boastful 
prayers at the corners of the streets. In the palaces of kings, 
in the assemblies of philosophers, in the schools of the 
rabbis, all are alike unmindful of the wondrous fact which 
has filled all Heaven with joy and praise, that the Redeemer 
of men is about to appear upon the earth. 

There is no evidence that Christ is expected, and no prepa- 
ration for the Prince of life. In amazement the celestial mes- 
senger is about to return to Heaven with the shameful tid- 
ings, when he discovers a group of shepherds who are watch- 
ing their flocks by night, and, as they gaze into the starry 
heavens, are contemplating the prophecy of a Messiah to 
come to earth, and longing for the advent of the world's 
Redeemer. Here is a company that are prepared to receive 
the heavenly message. And suddenly the angel of the Lord 
appeared, declaring the good tidings of great joy. Celestial 
glory flooded all the plain, an innumerable company of 
angels was revealed, and as if the joy were too great for one 
messenger to bring from Heaven, a multitude of voices 
broke forth in the anthem which all the nations of the saved 
shall one day sing, " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
earth peace, good-will toward men." 1 

Oh, what a lessson is this wonderful story of Bethlehem! 
How it rebukes our unbelief, our pride, and self-sufficiency. 
How it warns us to beware, lest by our criminal indiffer- 
ence we also fail to discern the signs of the times, and there- 
fore know not the day of our visitation. 

It was not alone upon the hills of Judea, not among the 
lowly shepherds only, that angels found the watchers for 
Messiah's coming. In the land of the heathen also were 
those that looked for him; they were wise men, rich and 
noble, the philosophers of the East. Students of nature, the 
magi had seen God in his handiwork. From the Hebrew 

1 Luke 2: 14. 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 315 

Scriptures they had learned of the Star to arise out of Jacob', 
and with eager desire they waited His coming, who should 
be not only the "Consolation of Israel," but a "Light to 
lighten the Gentiles," and " for salvation unto the ends of 
the earth." l They were seekers for light, and light from the 
throne of God illumined the path for their feet. While the 
priests and rabbis of Jerusalem, the appointed guardians 
and expounders of the truth, were shrouded in darkness, 
the Heaven-sent star guided these Gentile strangers to the 
birthplace of the new-born King. 

It is "unto them that look for him" that Christ is to 
"appear the second time, without sin unto salvation." 2 Like 
the tidings of the Saviour's birth, the message of the second 
advent was not committed to the religious leaders of the peo- 
ple. They had failed to preserve their connection with God, 
and had refused light from Heaven; therefore they were 
not of the number described by the apostle Paul : " But ye, 
brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake 
you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the 
children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of dark- 
ness." 3 

The watchmen upon the walls of Zion should have been 
the first to catch the tidings of the Saviour's advent, the 
first to lift their voices to proclaim him near, the first 
to warn the people to prepare for his coming. But they 
were at ease, dreaming of peace and safety, while the peo- 
ple were asleep in their sins. Jesus saw his church, like 
the barren fig-tree, covered with pretentious leaves, yet des- 
titute of precious fruit. There was a boastful observance of 
the forms of religion, while the spirit of true humility, pen- 
itence, and faith — which alone could render the service 
acceptable to God — was lacking. Instead of the graces of 
the Spirit, there were manifested pride, formalism, vainglory, 
selfishness, oppression. A backsliding church closed their 
eyes to the signs of the times. God did not forsake them, or 

x Luke 2:25, 32; Acts 13:47. 2 Heb. 9:28. 3 1 Thess. 5:4, 5. 



316 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

suffer his faithfulness to fail; but they departed from him, 
and separated themselves from his love. As they refused to 
comply with the conditions, his promises were not fulfilled 
to them. 

Such is the sure result of neglect to appreciate and 
improve the light and privileges which God bestows. Unless 
the church will follow on in his opening providence, accept- 
ing every ray of light, performing every duty which may be 
revealed, religion will inevitably degenerate into the observ- 
ance of forms, and the spirit of vital godliness will disappear. 
This truth has been repeatedly illustrated in the history of 
the church. God requires of his people works of faith and 
obedience corresponding to the blessings and privileges 
bestowed. Obedience requires a sacrifice and involves a 
cross; and this is why so many of the professed followers of 
Christ refused to receive the light from Heaven, and, like the 
Jews of old, knew not the time of their visitation. 1 Be- 
cause of their pride and unbelief, the Lord passed them by 
and revealed his truth to those who, like the shepherds of 
Bethlehem and the Eastern magi, had given heed to all the 
light they had received. 

^uke .19:44. 




ENGLISH AND AMERICAN REFORMERS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



AN AMERICAN REFORMER, 

An upright, honest-hearted farmer, who had been led to 
doubt the divine authority of the Scriptures, yet who' sin- 
cerely desired to know the truth, was the man specially 
chosen of God to lead out in the proclamation of Christ's 
second coming. Like many other reformers, William Miller 
had in early life battled with poverty, and had thus learned 
the great lessons of energy and self-denial. The members- 
of the family from which he sprung were characterized by 
an independent, liberty-loving spirit, by capability of endur- 
ance, and ardent patriotism ; traits which were also promi- 
nent in his character. His father was a captain in the army 
of the Revolution, and to the sacrifices which he made in 
the struggles and sufferings of that stormy period, may be 
traced the straitened circumstances of Miller's early life. 

He had a sound physical constitution, and even in child- 
hood gave evidence of more than ordinary intellectual 
strength. As he grew older, this became more marked. His 
mind was active and well-developed, and he had a keen 
thirst for knowledge. Though he did not enjoy the advan- 
tages of a collegiate education, his love of study and a habit 
of careful thought and close criticism rendered him a man 
of sound judgment and comprehensive views. He possessed 
an irreproachable moral character and an enviable repu- 
tation, being generally esteemed for integrity, thrift, and 
benevolence. By dint of energy and application he early 
acquired a competence, though his habits of study were still 
maintained. He filled various civil and military offices 
with credit, and the avenues to wealth and honor seemed 
wide open to him. 

2 4 (317) 



318 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

His mother was a woman of sterling piety, and in child- 
hood he had been subject to religious impressions. In early 
manhood, however, he was thrown into the society of deists, 
whose influence was the stronger from the fact that they 
were mostly good citizens, and men of humane and benev- 
olent disposition. Living, as they did, in the midst of Chris- 
tian institutions, their characters had been to some extent 
moulded by their surroundings. For the excellencies which 
won them respect and confidence they were indebted to the 
Bible; and yet these good gifts were so perverted as to exert 
an influence against the Word of God. By association with 
these men, Miller was led to adopt their sentiments. The 
current interpretations of Scripture presented difficulties 
w T hich seemed to him insurmountable ; yet his new belief, 
while setting aside the Bible, offered nothing better to take 
its place, and he remained far from satisfied. He continued 
to hold these views, however, for about twelve years. But at 
the age of thirty-four, the Holy Spirit impressed his heart 
with a sense of his condition as a sinner. He found in his 
former belief no assurance of happiness beyond the grave. 
The future was dark and gloomy. Referring afterward to 
his feelings at this time, he said : — 

"Annihilation was a cold and chilling thought, and 
accountability was sure destruction to all. The heavens 
were as brass over my head, and the earth as iron under my 
feet. Eternity — what was it? And death — why was it? The 
more I reasoned, the further I was from demonstration. 
The more I thought, the more scattered were my conclu- 
sions. I tried to stop thinking; but my thoughts would not 
be controlled. I was truly wretched, but did not under- 
stand the cause. I murmured and complained, but knew 
not of whom. I knew that there t was a wrong, but knew 
not where or how to find the right. I mourned, but without 
hope." 

In this state he continued for some months. "Suddenly," 
he says, " the character of a Saviour was vividly impressed 



,1 X . I Mi: I! ICA X REFORMER. 319 



upon my mind. It seemed that there might he a being so 
good and compassionate as to himself atone for our trans- 
gressions, and thereby save us from suffering the penalty of 
sin. I immediately felt how lovely such a being must he, 
and imagined that I could cast myself into the arms, and 
trust in the mercy, of such a One. But the question arose, 
How can it be proved that such a being does exist? Aside 
from the Bible, I found that I could get no evidence of the 
existence of such a Saviour, or even of a future state." 

" I saw that the Bible did bring to view just such a Saviour 
as I needed; and I was perplexed to find how an uninspired 
book should develop principles so perfectly adapted to the 
wants of a fallen worlcL I was constrained to admit that 
the Scriptures must be a revelation from God. They became 
my delight ; and in Jesus I found a friend. The Saviour 
became to me the chiefest among ten thousand; and the 
Scriptures, which before were dark and contradictory, now 
became a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. My 
mind became settled and satisfied. I found the Lord God to 
be a Rock in the midst of the ocean of life. The Bible now 
became my chief study, and I can truly say, I searched it 
with great delight. I found the half was never told me. 
I wondered why I had not seen its beauty and glory before, 
and marveled that I could ever have rejected it. I found 
everything revealed that my heart could desire, and a rem- 
edy for every disease of the soul. I lost all taste for other 
reading, and applied my heart to get wisdom from God." 

He now publicly professed his faith in the religion which 
he had despised. But his infidel associates were not slow to 
bring forward all those arguments which he himself had 
often urged against the divine authority of the Scriptures. 
He was not then prepared to answer them ; but he reasoned, 
that if the Bible is a revelation from God, it must be*con- 
sistent with itself; and that as it was given for man's instruc- 
tion, it must be adapted to his understanding. He deter- 
mined to study the Scriptures for himself, and ascertain if 
every apparent contradiction could not be harmonized. 



320 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Endeavoring to lay aside all preconceived opinions, and 
dispensing with commentaries, he compared scripture with 
scripture by the aid of the marginal references and the con- 
cordance. He pursued his study in a regular and method- 
ical manner; beginning with Genesis, and reading verse by 
verse, he proceeded no faster than the meaning of the sev- 
eral passages so unfolded as to leave him free from all 
embarrassment. When he found anything obscure, it was 
his custom to compare it with every other text which seemed 
to have any reference to the matter under consideration. 
Every word was permitted to have its proper bearing upon 
the subject of the text, and if his view of it harmonized 
with every collateral < passage, it ceased to be a difficulty. 
Thus whenever he met with a passage hard to be under- 
stood, he found an explanation in some other portion of the 
Scriptures. As he studied with earnest prayer for divine 
enlightenment, that which had before appeared dark to his- 
understanding was made clear. He experienced the truth 
of the psalmist's words, "The entrance of Thy words giveth 
light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." 1 

With intense interest he studied the book of Daniel and 
the Revelation, employing the same principles of interpreta- 
tion as in the other scriptures, and found, to his great joy, 
that the prophetic symbols could be understood. He saw 
that the prophecies, so far as they had been fulfilled, had 
been fulfilled literally; that all the various figures, meta- 
phors, parables, similitudes, etc., were either explained in 
their immediate connection, or the terms in which they 
were expressed were defined in other scriptures; and when 
thus explained were to be literally understood. " Thus I was 
satisfied," he says, "that the Bible was a system of revealed 
truth so clearly and simply given that the wayfaring man,, 
though a fool, need not err therein." Link after link of the 
chain of truth rewarded his efforts, as step by step he traced 
down the great lines of prophecy. Angels of Heaven were 
guiding his mind and opening the Scriptures to his under- 
standing. 

iPs. 119:130. 



AN A MERICAN REFORMER. 321 

Taking the manner in which the prophecies had been 
fulfilled in the past, as a criterion by which to judge 
of the fulfillment of those which were still future, he be- 
came satisfied that the popular view of the spiritual reign 
of Christ — a temporal millennium before the end of the 
world — was not sustained by the Word of God. This 
doctrine, pointing to a thousand years of righteousness 
and peace before the personal coming of the Lord, put 
far off the terrors of the clay of God. But, pleasing 
though it may be, it is contrary to the teachings of Christ 
and his apostles, who declared that the wheat and the 
tares are to grow together until the harvest, the end of 
the world ; x that " evil men and seducers shall wax worse 
and worse ; " 2 that " in the last days perilous times shall 
come ; " 2 and that the kingdom of darkness shall con- 
tinue until the advent of the Lord, and shall be con- 
sumed with the spirit of his mouth, and be destroyed with 
the brightness of his coming. 3 The doctrine of the world's 
conversion and the spiritual reign of Christ was not held 
by the apostolic church. It was not generally accepted 
by Christians until about the beginning of the eighteenth 
century. Like every other error, its results were evil. It 
taught men to look far in the future for the coming of the 
Lord, and prevented them from giving heed to the signs 
heralding his approach. It induced a feeling of confidence 
and security that was not well founded, and led many to 
neglect the preparation necessary in order to meet their Lord. 

Miller found the literal, personal coming of Christ to be 
plainly taught in the Scriptures. Says Paul, " The Lord 
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." i And 
the Saviour declares: " They shall see the Son of man coming 
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." "For 
as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even 
unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." 5 

1 Matt. 13 : 30, 38-41. 2 2 Tim. 3 : 13, 1. 3 2Thess. 2:8. 

* 1 Thess. 4 : 16 5 Matt. 24 : .10, 27. 



322 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

He is to be accompanied by all the hosts of Heaven. "The 
Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels 
with him." "And he shall send his angels with a great 
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect." 1 

At his coming the righteous dead will be raised, and the 
righteous living will be changed. "AVe shall not all sleep,' 7 
says Paul, "but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in 
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for the trumpet 
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and 
we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on 
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 2 
And in his letter to the Thessalonians, after describing the 
coming of the Lord, he says: "The dead in Christ shall rise 
first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught 
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in 
the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 3 

Not until the personal advent of Christ can his people 
receive the kingdom. The Saviour said: "When the Son 
of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with 
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory ; and 
before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall sepa- 
rate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his 
sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right 
hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the *King say 
unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
of the world." 4 AVe have seen by the scriptures just given 
that when the Son of man comes, the dead are raised incor- 
ruptible, and the living are changed. By this great change 
they are prepared to receive the kingdom; for Paul says, 
"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nei- 
ther doth corruption inherit incorruption. "° Man in his 
present state is mortal, corruptible; but the kingdom of God 
will be incorruptible, enduring forever. Therefore man in 
his present state cannot enter into the kingdom of God. But 

1 Matt. 25:31; 24:31. 2 1 Cor. 15 : 51-53. 3 1 Thess. 4 : 16, 17. 
* Matt. 25 : 31-34. 5 1 Cor. 15 : 50. 



AN AMERICA N REFORMER. 323 

when Jesus comes, he confers immortality upon his people; 
and then he calls them to inherit the kingdom, of which 
they have hitherto been only heirs. 

These and other scriptures clearly proved to Miller's mind, 
that the events which were generally expected to take place 
before the coming of Christ, such as the universal reign of 
peace, and the setting up of the kingdom of God upon the 
earth, were to be subsequent to the second advent. Further- 
more, all the signs of the times and the condition of the 
world corresponded to the prophetic description of the last 
days. He was forced to the conclusion, from the study of 
Scripture alone, that the period allotted for the continu- 
ance of the earth in its present state was about to close. 

"Another evidence that vitally affected my mind," he 
says, " was the chronology of the Scriptures. I found that 
predicted events, which had been fulfilled in the past, often 
occurred within a given time. The one hundred and twenty 
years to the flood, Gen. 6:3; the seven days that were to pre- 
cede it, with forty days of predicted rain, Gen. 7:4; the four 
hundred years of the sojourn of Abraham's seed, Gen. 15:13; 
the three days of the butler's and baker's dreams, Gen. 
40:12-20; the seven years of Pharaoh's, Gen. 41:28-54; the 
forty years in the wilderness, Num. 14:34; the three and a 
half years of famine, 1 Kings IT:!; 1 the seventy years' cap- 
tivity, Jer. 25:11; Nebuchadnezzar's seven times, Dan. 4:13- 
16; and the seven weeks, threescore and two weeks, and the 
one week, making seventy weeks, determined upon the Jews, 
Dan. 9 : 24-27 ; the events limited by these times were all 
once only a matter of prophecy, and were fulfilled in accord- 
ance with the predictions." 

When, therefore, he found in his study of the Bible, vari- 
ous chronological periods that, according to his understand- 
ing of them, extended to the second coming of Christ, he 
could not but regard them as the "times before appointed," 
which God had revealed unto his servants. "The secret 
things," says Moses, "belong unto the Lord our God; but 

^ee Luke 4: 25. 



324 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our 
children forever," 1 and the Lord declares by the prophet 
Amos, that he " will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret 
unto his servants the prophets." 3 The students of God's 
Word may then confidently expect to find the most stupen- 
dous event to take place in human history clearly pointed out 
in the Scriptures of truth. 

"As I was fully convinced," says Miller, " that all Scripture 
given by inspiration of God is profitable ; 3 that it came not 
at any time by the will of man, but was written as holy men 
"were moved by the Holy Ghost, 4 and was written 'for our 
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Script- 
ures might have hope,' 5 I could not but regard the chrono- 
logical portions of the Bible as being as much entitled to our 
serious consideration as any other portion of the Scriptures. 
I felt therefore that in endeavoring to comprehend what God 
in his mercy had seen fit to reveal to us, I had no right to 
pass over the prophetic periods." 

The prophecy which seemed most clearly to reveal the 
time of the second advent was that of Dan. 8:14: "Unto two 
thousand and three hundred days ; then shall the sanct- 
uary be cleansed." Following his rule of making Scripture 
its own interpreter, Miller learned that a day in symbolic 
prophecy represents a year; 6 he saw that the period of 2300 
prophetic days, or literal years, would extend far beyond the 
close of the Jewish dispensation, hence.it could not refer to 
the sanctuary of that dispensation. Miller accepted the 
generally received view, that in the Christian age the earth 
is the sanctuary, and he therefore understood that the cleans- 
ing of the sanctuary foretold in Dan. 8 : 14, represented the 
purification of the earth by fire at the second coming of 
Christ. If, then, the correct starting-point could be found 
for the 2300 days, he concluded that the time of the second 
advent could be readily ascertained. Thus would be revealed 

1 Deut. 29 : 29. ' 2 Amos 3:7. 3 2 Tim. 3:16. 

4 2 Pet. 1:21. 5 Rom. 15:4. 6 Num. 14 : 34 ; Eze. 4 : 6. 



A X A MERICAN REFORMER. 325 

the time of that great consummation, "the time when the 
present state, with all its pride and power, its pomp and 
vanity, wickedness and oppression, would come to an end; 
. . . when the curse would be removed from off the earth, 
when death would be destroyed, reward be given to the 
servants of God, to the prophets and saints, and all them 
that fear his name, and those be destroyed who destroy the 
earth/' 

With a new and deeper earnestness, Miller continued the 
examination of the prophecies, whole nights as well as days 
being devoted to the study of what now appeared of such 
stupendous importance and all-absorbing interest. In the 
eighth chapter of Daniel he could find no clue to the start- 
ing-point of the 2300 days; the angel Gabriel, though com- 
manded to make Daniel understand the vision, gave him 
only a partial explanation. As the terrible persecution to 
befall the church was unfolded to the prophet's vision, 
physical strength gave way. He could endure no more, 
and the angel left him for the time. Daniel "fainted, and 
was sick certain days." "And I was astonished at the vis- 
ion/' he says, "but none understood it." 

Yet God had bidden his messenger, "Make this man 
to understand the vision." That commission must be ful- 
filled. In obedience to it, the angel, some time afterward, 
returned to Daniel, saying, " I am now come forth to give 
thee skill and • understanding ; " "therefore understand the 
matter, and consider the vision." l There was only one point 
in the vision of chapter eight which had been left unex- 
plained, namely, that relating to time, — the period of the 2300 
days: therefore, the angel, in resuming his explanation, 
dwells exclusively upon the subject of time: — 

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and 
upon thy holy city. . . . Know therefore and under- 
stand, that from the going forth of the commandment to 
restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince 

1 Dan. 9 : 22, 23, 25-27. 



326 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the 
street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous 
times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah 
be cut off, but not for himself. . . . And he shall confirm 
the covenant with many for one week ; and in the midst of 
the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to 
cease." 

The angel had been sent to Daniel for the express pur- 
pose of explaining to him the point which he had failed to 
understand in the vision of the eighth chapter, the state- 
ment relative to time, — "Unto two thousand and three 
hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." After 
bidding Daniel "understand the matter, and consider the 
vision," the very first words of the angel are, " Seventy weeks 
are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city." 
The word here translated " determined," literally signifies 
" cut off." Seventy weeks, representing 490 years, are declared 
by the angel to be cut off, as specially pertaining to the Jews. 
But from what were they cut off? As the 2300 days was 
the only period of time mentioned in chapter eight, it must 
be the period from which the seventy weeks were cut off; 
the seventy weeks must therefore be a part, of the 2300 days, 
and the two periods must begin together. The seventy weeks 
were declared by the angel to date from the going forth of 
the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. If the 
date of this commandment could be found, then the starting- 
point for the great period of the 2300 days would be ascer- 
tained. 

In the seventh chapter of Ezra the decree is found. l In 
its completest form it was issued by Artaxerxes, king of Per- 
sia, b. c. 457. But in Ezra 6 : 14 the house of the Lord at 
Jerusalem is said to have been built " according to the com- 
mandment [margin, decree] of Cyrus, and Darius, and 
Artaxerxes king of Persia." These three kings, in originat- 
ing, re-affirming, and completing the decree, brought it to 
the perfection required by the prophecy to mark the begin- 

1 Ezra 7 : 12-26. 



AN A MERICAN REFORMER. 327 

ning of the 2300 years. Taking B. c. 457, the time when 
the decree was completed, as the date of the commandment, 
every specification of the prophecy concerning the seventy 
weeks was seen to have been fulfilled. 

" From the going forth of the commandment to restore 
and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be 
seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks," — namely, sixty- 
nine weeks, or 483 years. The decree of Artaxerxes went 
into effect in the autumn of b. c. 457. From this date, 483 
years extend to the autumn of a. d. 27. 1 At that time this 
prophecy was fulfilled. The word " Messiah " signifies " the 
Anointed One." In the autumn of a. d. 27, Christ was bap- 
tized by John, and received the anointing of the Spirit. The 
apostle Peter testifies that " God anointed Jesus of Xazareth 
with the Holy Ghost and with power." 2 And the Saviour 
himself declared, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, be- 
cause he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor."* 
After his baptism he came into Galilee, "preaching the gos- 
pel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled." *. 

" And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one 
week." The "week " here brought to view is the last one of 
the seventy ; it is the last seven years of the period allotted 
especially to the Jews. During this time, extending from 
a. d. 27 to a. d. 34, Christ, at first in person, and afterward 
by his disciples, extended the gospel invitation especially to 
the Jews. As the apostles went forth with the good tidings 
of the kingdom, the Saviour's direction was, "Go not into 
the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans 
enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house 
of Israel." 5 

"And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacri- 
fice and the oblation to cease." In a. d. 31, three and a half 
years after his baptism, our Lord was crucified. With the 
great sacrifice offered upon Calvary, ended that system of 
offerings which for four thousand years had pointed forward 

x See Appendix, Xote 3; also diagram opposite p. 328. - Acts 10 : 38. 
3 Luke 4 : IS. i Mark 1 : 14, 15. 5 Matt. 10 : 5, 6. 



328 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

to the Lamb of God. Type had met antitype, and all the 
sacrifices and oblations of the ceremonial system were there 
to cease. 

The seventy weeks, or 490 years, especially allotted to the 
Jews, ended, as we have seen, in a. d. 34. At that time, 
through the action of the Jewish Sanhedrim, the nation 
sealed its rejection of the gospel, by the martyrdom of 
Stephen and the persecution of the followers of Christ. Then 
"the message of salvation, no longer restricted to the chosen 
people, was given to the world. The disciples, forced by 
persecution to flee from Jerusalem, " went everywhere preach- 
ing the Word." " Philip went down to the city of Samaria, 
and preached Christ unto them." l Peter, divinely guided, 
opened the gospel to the centurion of Cesarea, the God- 
fearing Cornelius; and the ardent Paul, won to the faith of 
Christ, was commissioned to carry the glad tidings "far 
hence unto the Gentiles." 1 

Thus far every specification of the prophecy is strikingly 
fulfilled, and the beginning of the seventy weeks is fixed 
beyond question at b. c. 457, and their expiration in a. d. 34. 
From this data there is no. difficulty in finding the termina- 
tion of the 2300 days. The seventy weeks— 490 days — hav- 
ing been cut off from the 2300, there were 1810 days 
remaining. After the end of 490 days, the 1810 days were 
still to be fulfilled. From A. d. 34, 1810 years extend to 
1844. Consequently the 2300 days of Dan. 8 : 14 terminate 
in 1844. At the expiration of this great prophetic period, 
upon the testimony of the angel of God, " the sanctuary shall 
be cleansed." Thus the time of the cleansing of the sanct- 
uary — which was almost universally believed to take place 
at the second advent — was definitely pointed out. 

Miller and his associates at first believed that the 2300 days 
would terminate in the spring of 1844, whereas the prophecy 
points to the autumn of that year. 2 The misapprehension 
of this point brought disappointment and perplexity to 

^cts 8 : 4, 5; 22 : 21. 2 See diagram, next page; also Appendix, Note 3. 



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AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 329 

those who had fixed upon the earlier elate as the time of the 
Lord's coming. But this did not in the least affect the 
strength of the argument showing that the 2300 days termi- 
nated in the year 1S44, and that the great event represented 
by the cleansing of the sanctuary must then take place. 

Entering upon the study of the Scriptures as he had done, 
in order to prove that they were a revelation from God, 
Miller had not, at the outset, the slightest expectation of 
reaching the conclusion at which he had now arrived. He 
himself could hardly credit the results of his investigation. 
But the Scripture evidence was too clear and forcible to be 
set aside. 

He had devoted two years to the study of the Bible, when, 
in 1818, he reached the solemn conviction that in about 
twenty-five years Christ w r ould appear for the redemption of 
his people. " I need not speak," says Miller, " of the joy that 
filled my heart in view of the delightful prospect, nor of the 
ardent longings of my soul for a participation in the joys of 
the redeemed. The Bible was now to me a new book. It 
was indeed a feast of reason ; all that was dark, mystical, or 
obscure, to me, in its teachings, had been dissipated from 
my mind before the clear light that now dawned from its 
sacred pages; and oh, how bright and glorious the truth 
appeared ! All the contradictions and inconsistencies I had 
before found in the Word w T ere gone; and, although there 
were many portions of which I was not satisfied that I had 
a full understanding, yet so much light had emanated from 
it to the illumination of my before darkened mind, that I 
felt a delight in studying the Scriptures which I had not 
before supposed could be derived from its teachings." 

" With the solemn conviction that such momentous events 
were predicted in the Scriptures to be fulfilled in so short a 
space of time, the question came home to me with mighty 
power regarding my duty to the world in view of the evi- 
dence that had affected my own mind." He could not but 
feel that it was his duty to impart to others the light which 



330 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

he had received. He expected to encounter opposition from 
the ungodly, but was confident that all Christians would 
rejoice in the hope of meeting the Saviour whom they pro- 
fessed to love. His only fear was, that in their great joy at 
the prospect of glorious deliverance, so soon to be consum- 
mated, many would receive the doctrine without sufficiently 
examining the Scriptures in demonstration of its truth. He 
therefore hesitated to present it, lest he should be in error, 
and be the means of misleading others. He was thus led to 
review the evidences in support of the conclusions at which 
he had arrived, and to consider carefully every difficulty 
which presented itself to his mind. He found that objec- 
tions vanished before the light of God's Word, as mist before 
the rays of the sun. Five years spent thus, left him fully 
convinced of the correctness of his position. 

And now the duty of making known to others what he 
believed to be so clearly taught in the Scriptures, urged 
itself with new force upon him. "When I was about my 
business," he said, " it was continually ringing in my ears, 
Go and tell the world of their danger. This- text was con- 
stantly occurring to me : ' When I say unto the wicked, 
wicked man, thou shalt surely die ; if thou, dost not speak to 
warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in 
his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 
Nevertheless^ if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn 
from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his 
iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.' 1 I felt that if 
the wicked could be effectually warned, multitudes of them 
would repent; and that if they were not warned, their blood 
might be required at my hand." 

He began to present his views in private as he had oppor- 
tunity, praying that some minister might feel their force 
and devote himself to their promulgation. But he could 
not banish the conviction that he had a personal duty to 
perform in giving the warning. The words were ever recur- 
ring to his mind, " Go and tell it to the world ; their blood 

1 Eze. 33 : 8, 9. 



AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 331 

will I require at thy hand." For nine years he waited, the 
burden still pressing upon his soul, until in 1831 he for the 
first time publicly gave the reasons of his faith. 

As Elisha was called from following his oxen in the field, 
to receive the mantle of consecration to the prophetic office, 
so was William Miller called to leave his plow, and open to 
the people the mysteries of the kingdom of God. With 
trembling he entered upon his work, leading his hearers 
down, step by step, through the prophetic periods to the 
second appearing of Christ. With every effort he gained 
strength and courage as he saw the widespread interest 
excited by his words. 

It was only at the solicitation of his brethren, in whose 
words he heard the call of God, that Miller consented to 
present his views in public. He was now fifty years of age,, 
unaccustomed to public speaking, and burdened with a 
sense of unfitness for the work before him. But from the 
first his labors were blessed in a remarkable manner to the 
salvation- of souls. His first lecture was followed by a relig- 
ious awakening, in wmich thirty entire families, with the 
exception of two persons, were converted. He was immedi- 
ately urged to speak in other places, and in nearly every 
place his labor resulted in a revival of the work of God. 
Sinners were converted, Christians were roused to greater 
consecration, and deists and infidels were led to acknowledge 
the truth of the Bible and the Christian religion. The 
testimony of those among whom he labored was : "A class of 
minds are reached by him that are not within the influence 
of other men." " His preaching is calculated to arouse the 
public mind to the great things of religion, and to check the 
growing worldliness and sensuality of the age." 

In nearly every town there were scores, in some, hundreds, 
converted as the result of his preaching. In many places 
Protestant churches of nearly all denominations were thrown 
open to him ; and the invitations to labor usually came from 
the ministers of the several congregations. It was his 

25 



332 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

invariable rule not to labor in any place to which he had 
not been invited, yet he soon found himself unable to comply 
with half the requests that poured in upon him. 

Many who did not accept his views as to the exact time of 
the second advent, were convinced of the certainty and 
nearness of Christ's coming and their need of preparation. 
In some of the large cities his work produced a marked 
impression. Liquor-dealers abandoned the traffic, and 
turned their shops into meeting-rooms; gambling dens were 
broken up, infidels, deists, Universalists, and the most 
abandoned profligates were reformed — some of whom had 
not entered a house of worship for years. Prayer-meetings 
were established by the various denominations, in different 
quarters, at almost every 'hour, business men assembling at 
midday for prayer and praise. There was no extravagant 
excitement, but an almost universal solemnity on the minds 
of the people. His work, like that of the early reformers, 
tended rather to convince the understanding and arouse the 
conscience than merely to excite the emotions. 

In 1833 Miller received a license to preach, from the Bap- 
tist Church, of which he was a member. A large number of 
the ministers of his denomination also approved his work, 
and it was with their formal sanction that he continued his 
labors. 

He traveled and preached unceasingly, though his per- 
sonal labors were confined, principally to the New England 
and Middle States. For several years his expenses were met 
wholly from his own private purse, and he never afterward 
received enough to meet the expense of travel to the places 
where he was iirvited. Thus his public labors, so far from 
being a pecuniary benefit, were a heavy tax upon his prop- 
erty, which gradually diminished during this period of his 
life. He was the father of a large family, but as they were 
all frugal and industrious, his farm sufficed for their main- 
tenance as well as his own. 

In 1833, two years after Miller began to present in pub- 



AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 333 

lie the evidences of Christ's soon coming, the last of the 
signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as 
tokens of his second advent. Said Jesus, "The stars shall 
fall from heaven.'' 1 And John in the Revelation declared, 
as lie beheld in vision the scenes that herald the day of God: 
"The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree 
casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty 
wind."' This prophecy received a striking and impressive 
fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 
1833. That was the most extensive and wonderful disj)lay 
of falling stars which has ever been recorded; "the whole 
firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, 
in fiery commotion. No celestial phenomenon has ever 
occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was 
viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the 
community, or such dread and alarm by another." "Its 
sublimity and awful beauty still linger in many minds. 
. . . Xever did rain fall much thicker than the meteors 
fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the 
same. In a word, the whole heaA^ens seemed in motion. 
. . . The display, as described in Professor Silliman's 
journal, was seen all over Xorth America. . . . From 
two o'clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly 
serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brill- 
iant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens." 

" Xo language indeed can come up to the splendor of that 
magnificent display ; no one who did not witness it can form 
an adequate conception of its glory. It seemed as if the 
whole starry heavens had congregated at one point near the 
zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the 
velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet 
they were not exhausted — thousands swiftly followed in the 
track of thousands, as if created for the occasion." "A 
more correct picture of a fig-tree casting its figs when blown 
by a mighty wind, it is not possible to behold." 

1 Matt. 24:29. 2 Rev. 6: 13. 



334 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

On the day following its appearance, Henry Dana Ward 
wrote thus of the wonderful phenomenon : " No philosopher 
or scholar has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like that 
of yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years 
ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble of under- 
standing stars falling to mean falling stars, in the only 
sense in which it is possible to be literally true." 

Thus was displayed the last of those signs of his coming,, 
concerning which Jesus bade his disciples, "When ye shall 
see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." 1 
After these signs, John beheld, as the great event next im- 
pending, the heavens departing as a scroll, while the earth 
quaked, mountains and islands removed out of their places, 
and the wicked in terror sought to flee from the presence of 
the Son of man. 

Many who witnessed the falling of the stars, looked upon 
it as a herald of the coming Judgment, — "an awful type, a 
sure forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great and dreadful 
day." Thus the attention of the people was directed to the 
fulfillment of prophecy, and many were led to give heed to 
the warning of the second advent. 

In the year 1840, another remarkable fulfillment of proph- 
ecy excited widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah 
Litch, one of the leading ministers preaching the second 
advent, published an exposition of Revelation 9, predicting 
the fall of the Ottoman empire, and specifying not only the 
year but the very day on which this would take place. Ac- 
cording to this exposition, which was purely a matter of 
calculation on the prophetic periods of Scripture, the Turk- 
ish government would surrender its independence on the 
eleventh day of August, 1840. The prediction was widely 
published, and thousands watched the course of events with 
eager interest. 

At the very time specified, Turkey, through her ambas- 
sadors, accepted the protection of the allied powers of Eu- 
rope, and thus placed herself under the control of Christian 

1 Matt. 24 : 33. 



AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 335 

nations. The event exactly fulfilled the prediction. When 
it became known, multitudes were convinced of the correct- 
ness of the principles of prophetic interpretation adopted by 
Miller and his associates, and a wonderful impetus was given 
to the Advent movement. Men of learning and position 
united with Miller, both in preaching and publishing his 
views, and from 1840 to 1844 the w T ork rapidly extended. 

William Miller possessed strong mental powers, disciplined 
by thought and study ; and he added to these the wisdom of 
Heaven, by connecting himself with the Source of wisdom. 
He was a man of sterling worth, who could not but command 
respect and esteem wherever integrity of character and 
moral excellence were valued. Uniting true kindness of 
heart with Christian humility and the power of self-control, 
he was attentive and affable to all, ready to listen to the 
opinions of others, and to weigh their arguments. Without 
passion or excitement, he tested all theories and doctrines by 
the Word of God ; and his sound reasoning, and thorough 
knowledge of the Scriptures, enabled him to refute error and 
expose falsehood. 

Yet he did not prosecute his work without bitter opposi- 
tion. As with earlier reformers, the truths which he pre- 
sented were not received with favor by popular religious 
teachers. As these could not maintain their position by the 
Scriptures, they w T ere driven to resort to the sayings and 
doctrines of men, to the traditions of the Fathers. But the 
Word of God was the only testimony accepted by the 
preachers of the Advent truth. "The Bible, and the Bible 
only," was their watchword. The lack of Scripture argu- 
ment on the part of their opponents was supplied by ridicule 
and scoffing. Time, means, and talents were employed in 
maligning those whose only offense was that they looked 
with joy for the return of their Lord, and were striving to 
live holy lives, and to exhort others to prepare for his 
appearing. 

Earnest were the efforts put forth to draw away the minds 



336 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

of the people from the subject of the second advent. It was 
made to appear a sin, something of which men should be 
ashamed, to study the prophecies which relate to the coming 
of Christ and the end of the world. Thus the popular min- 
istry undermined faith in the Word of God. Their teaching 
made men infidels, and many took license to walk after 
their own ungodly lusts. Then the authors of the evil 
charged it all upon Adventists. 

While drawing crowded houses of intelligent and attentive 
hearers, Miller's name was seldom mentioned by the relig- 
ious press except by way of ridicule or denunciation. The 
careless and ungodly, emboldened by the position of religious 
teachers, resorted to opprobrious epithets, to base and blas- 
phemous witticisms, in their efforts to heap contumely upon 
him and his work. The gray-headed man who had left a com- 
fortable home to travel at his own expense from city to city, 
from town to town, toiling unceasingly to bear to the world 
the solemn warning of the Judgment near, was sneeringly 
denounced as a fanatic, a liar, a speculating knave. 

The ridicule, falsehood, and abuse heaped upon him 
called forth indignant remonstrance, even from the secular 
press. To treat a subject of such overwhelming majesty and 
fearful consequences, with lightness and ribaldry, w T as de- 
clared by worldly men to be not merely to sport with the 
feelings of its advocates, but " to make a jest of the clay of 
Judgment, to scoff at God himself, and to mock the terrors 
of his Judgment-bar." 

The instigator of all evil sought not only to counteract 
the effect of the Advent message, but to destroy the mes- 
senger himself. Miller made a practical application of 
Scripture truth to the hearts of his hearers, reproving their 
sins, and disturbing their self-satisfaction, and his plain and 
cutting words aroused their enmity. The opposition man- 
ifested by church-members toward his message, emboldened 
the baser classes to go to greater lengths; and enemies 
plotted to take his life as he should leave the place of 



A JST A MERICAN REFORMER. 337 

meeting. But holy angels were in the throng, and one of 
these, in the form of a man, took the arm of this servant 
of the Lord, and led him in safety from the angry mob. 
His work was not yet done, and Satan and his emissaries 
were disappointed in their purpose. 

Despite all opposition, the interest in the Advent movement 
had continued to increase. From scores and hundreds, the 
congregations had grown to as many thousands. Large 
accessions had been made to the various churches, but after 
a time the spirit of opposition was manifested even against 
these converts, and the churches began to take disciplinary 
steps with those who had embraced Miller's views. This 
action called forth a response from his pen, in an address to 
Christians of all denominations, urging that if his doctrines 
were false he should be shown his error from the Scriptures. 

"What have we believed," he said, "that we have not been 
commanded to believe by the Word of God, which you 
yourselves allow is the rule, and the only rule, of our faith 
and practice? What have we done that should call down 
such virulent denunciations against us from pulpit and press, 
and give you just cause to exclude us [Adventists] from 
your church and fellowship?" "If we are wrong, pray 
show us wherein consists our wrong. Show us from the 
Word of God that we are in error; we have had ridicule 
enough ; that can never convince us that we are in the wrong ; 
the Word of God alone can change our views. Our conclu- 
sions have been formed deliberately and prayerfully, as we 
have seen the evidence in the Scriptures." 

From age to age the warnings which God has sent to the 
world by his servants have been received with like incre- 
dulity and unbelief. When the iniquity of the antediluvians 
moved him to bring a flood of waters upon the earth, he first 
made known to them his purpose, that they might have 
opportunity to turn from their evil ways. For a hundred 
and twenty years was sounded in their ears the warning to 
repent, lest the wrath of God be manifested in their destruc- 



338 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

tion. But the message seemed to them an idle tale, and 
they believed it not. Emboldened in their wickedness, they 
mocked the messenger of God, made light of his entreaties, 
and even accused him of presumption. How dare one 
man stand up against all the great men of the earth? If 
Noah's message were true, why did not all the world see 
it and believe it? One man's assertion against the wisdom 
of thousands! They would not credit the warning, nor 
would they seek shelter in the ark. 

Scoffers pointed to the things of nature, — to the unvarying 
succession of the seasons, to the blue skies that had never 
poured out rain, to the green fields refreshed by the soft 
dews of night, — and they cried out, "Doth he not speak 
parables?" In contempt they declared the preacher of 
righteousness to be a wild enthusiast; and they went on, 
more eager in their pursuit of pleasure, more intent upon 
their evil ways, than ever before. But their unbelief did 
not hinder the predicted event. God bore long with their 
wickedness, giving them ample opportunity for repentance; 
but at the appointed time his judgments were visited upon 
the rejecters of his mercy. 

Christ declares that there will exist similar unbelief con- 
cerning his second coming. As the people of Noah's day 
" knew not until the flood came, and took them all away ; so," 
in the words of our Saviour, " shall also the coming of the 
Son of man be." 1 When the professed people of God are 
uniting with the world, living as they live, and joining with 
them in forbidden pleasure; when the luxury of the world 
becomes the luxury of the church ; when the marriage bells 
are chiming, and all are looking forward to many years of 
worldly prosperity, — then, suddenly as the lightning flashes 
from the heavens, will come the end of their bright visions 
and delusive hopes. 

As God sent his servant to warn the world of the coming 
flood, so he sent chosen messengers to make known the 
nearness of the final Judgment. And as Noah's contem- 



Matt. 24 : 39. 



AN" AMERICAN REFORMER. 339 

poraries laughed to scorn the predictions of the preacher of 
righteousness, so in Miller's day many, even of the professed 
people of God, scoffed at the words of warning. 

And why were the doctrine and preaching of Christ's 
second coming so unwelcome to the churches? While to 
the wicked the advent of the Lord brings woe and desola- 
tion, to the righteous it is fraught with joy and hope. This 
great truth had been the consolation of God's faithful ones 
through all the ages; wdiy had it become, like its Author, 
" a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense " to his professed 
people? It was our Lord himself who promised his disci- 
ples, " If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, 
and receive you unto myself." 1 It was the compassionate 
Saviour, who, anticipating the loneliness and sorrow of his 
followers, commissioned angels to comfort them with the 
assurance that he would come again in person, even as he 
went into heaven. As the disciples stood gazing intently 
upward to catch the last glimpse of him whom they loved, 
their attention was arrested by the words, " Ye men of Gali- 
lee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in 
like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." 2 Hope 
was kindled afresh by the angels' message. The disciples 
"returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually 
in the temple, praising and blessing God." 3 They were not 
rejoicing because Jesus had been separated from them and 
they were left to struggle with the trials and temptations of 
the world, but because of the angels' assurance that he would 
come again. 

The proclamation of Christ's coming should now be, as 
when made by the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem, 
good tidings of great joy. Those who really love the Sav- 
iour cannot but hail with gladness the announcement 
founded upon the Word of God, that he in whom their hopes 
of eternal life are centered, is coming again, not to be in- 

1 John 14:3. 2 Acts 1:11. 3 Luke 24 : 52, 53. 



340 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

suited, despised, and rejected, as at his first advent, but in 
power and glory, to redeem his people. It is those who do 
not love the Saviour, that desire him to remain away ; and 
there can be no more conclusive evidence that the churches 
have departed from God than the irritation and animosity 
excited by this Heaven-sent message. 

Those who accepted the Advent doctrine were roused to 
the necessity of repentance and humiliation before God. 
Many had long been halting between Christ and the world ; 
"now they felt that it was time to take a stand. The things 
of eternity assumed to them an unwonted reality. Heaven 
was brought near, and they felt themselves guilty before 
God. Christians were quickened to new spiritual life. They 
were made to feel that time was short, that what they had 
to do for their fellow-men must be done quickly. Eartli 
receded, eternity seemed to open before them, and the soul ? 
with all that pertains to its immortal weal or woe, was felt 
to eclipse every temporal object." The Spirit of God rested 
upon them, and gave power to their earnest appeals to their 
brethren, as well as to sinners, to prepare for the day of God. 
The silent testimony of their daily life was a constant rebuke 
to formal and unconsecrated church-members. These did 
not wish to be disturbed in their pursuit of pleasure, their 
devotion to money -making, and their ambition for worldly 
honor. Hence the enmity and opposition excited against 
the Advent faith and those who proclaimed it. 

As the arguments from the prophetic periods were found 
to be impregnable, opposers endeavored to discourage inves- 
tigation of the subject, by teaching that the prophecies were 
sealed. Thus Protestants followed in the steps of Romanists. 
While the papal church withholds the Bible from the peo- 
ple, Protestant churches claimed that an important part of 
the sacred AVord — and that the part which brings to view 
truths specially applicable to our time — could not be under- 
stood. 

Ministers and people declared that the prophecies of 



AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 341 

Daniel and the Revelation were incomprehensible mysteries. 
But Christ directed his disciples to the words of the prophet 
Daniel concerning events to take place in their time, and 
said, "Whoso readeth, let him understand." 1 And the asser- 
tion that the Revelation is a mystery, not to be understood,,, 
is contradicted by the very title of the book : " The Revela- 
tion of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto 
his servants things which must shortly come to pass .... 
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of 
this prophecy, and keep those things which are written 
therein; for the time is at hand." 2 

Says the prophet: "Blessed is he that readeth" — there are 
those who will not read ; the blessing is not for them. "And 
they that hear" — there are some, also, who refuse to hear 
anything concerning the prophecies; the blessing is not for 
this class. " And keep those things which are written therein " 
— many refuse to heed the warnings and instructions con- 
tained in the Revelation. None of these can claim the bless- 
ing promised. All who ridicule the subjects of the prophecy, 
and mock at the symbols here solemnly given, all who 
refuse to reform their lives, and prepare for the coming of 
the Son of man, will be unblest. 

In view of the testimony of Inspiration, how dare men 
teach that the Revelation is a mystery, beyond the reach of 
human understanding? It is a mystery revealed, a book 
opened. The study of the Revelation directs the mind to 
the prophecies of Daniel, and both present most important 
instruction, given of God to men, concerning events to take 
place at the close of this world's history. 

To John were opened scenes of deep and thrilling interest 
in the experience of the church. He saw the position, 
dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God. 
He records the closing messages which are to ripen the 
harvest of the earth, either as sheaves for the heavenly gar- 
ner or as fagots for the fires of destruction. Subjects of vast 

1 Matt. 24:15. 2 Rev. 1 : 1-3. 



342 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



importance were revealed to him, especially for the last 
church, that those who should turn from error to truth 
might be instructed concerning the perils and conflicts be- 
fore them. None need be in darkness in regard to what is 
coming upon the earth. 

Why, then, this widespread ignorance concerning an 
important part of Holy Writ? Why this general reluctance 
to investigate its teachings? It is the result of a studied 
effort of the prince of darkness to conceal from men that 
which reveals his deceptions. For this reason, Christ the 
Revelator, foreseeing the warfare that would be waged 
against the study of the Revelation, pronounced a blessing 
upon all who should read, hear, and observe the words of 
the prophecy. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS. 

The work of God in the earth presents, from age to age r 
a striking similarity in every great reformation or religious 
movement. The principles of God's dealing with men are. 
ever the same. The important movements of the present 
have their parallel in those of the past, and the experience 
of the church in former ages has lessons of great value for 
our own time. 

No truth is more clearly taught in the Bible than that 
God by his Holy Spirit especially directs his servants on 
earth in the great movements for the carrying forward of 
the work of salvation. Men are instruments in the hand of 
God, employed by him to accomplish his purposes of grace 
and mercy. Each has his part to act; to each is granted a 
measure of light, adapted to the necessities of his time, and 
sufficient to enable him to perform the work which God has 
given him to do. But no man, however honored of Heaven, 
has ever attained to a full understanding of the great plan 
of redemption, or even to a perfect appreciation of the 
divine purpose in the work for his own time. Men do not 
fully understand what God would accomplish by the work 
which he gives them to do ; they do not comprehend, in all 
its bearings, the message which they utter in his name. 

" Canst thou by searching find out God ? canst thou find 
out the Almighty unto perfection?" " My thoughts are not 
your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the 
Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are 
my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than 
your thoughts." "I am God, and there is none like me, 

(343) 



344 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient 
times the things that are not yet done." 1 

Even the prophets who were favored with the special 
illumination of the Spirit, did not fully comprehend the 
import of the revelations committed to them. The meaning 
was to be unfolded, from age to age, as the people of God 
should need the instruction therein contained. 

Peter, writing of the salvation brought to light through 
the gospel, says: Of this salvation "the prophets have in- 
quired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace 
that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner 
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, 
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and 
the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, 
that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister." 2 

Yet while it was not given to the prophets to understand 
fully the things revealed to them, they earnestly sought 
to obtain all the light which God had been pleased to 
make manifest. They "inquired and searched diligently," 
"searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of 
Christ which was in them did signify." What a lesson to 
the people of God in the Christian age, for whose benefit 
these prophecies were given to his servants! "Unto whom 
it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they 
did minister." Witness those holy men of God as they 
"inquired and searched diligently" concerning revelations 
given them for generations that were yet unborn. Contrast 
their holy zeal with the listless unconcern with which the 
favored ones of later ages treat this gift of Heaven. What 
a rebuke to the ease-loving, world-loving indifference which 
is content to declare that the prophecies cannot be under- 
stood. 

Though the finite minds of men are inadequate to enter 
into the counsels of the Infinite One, or to fully understand 
the working out of his purposes, yet often it is because of 

x Job ll:7;Isa. 55 : 8, 9 ; 46 : 9, 10. 2 1 Pet. 1 : 10-12. 



LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS. 345 

sonic error or neglect on their own part, that they so dimly 
comprehend the messages of Heaven. Not infrequently the 
minds of the people — and even of God's servants — are 
blinded by human opinions, the traditions and false teach- 
ing of men, so that they are able only partially to grasp the 
great things which he has revealed in his Word. Thus it 
was with the disciples of Christ, even when the Saviour was 
with them in person. Their minds had become imbued 
with the popular conception of the Messiah as a temporal 
prince, who was to exalt Israel to the throne of universal 
empire, and they could not understand the meaning of his 
words foretelling his sufferings and death. 

Christ himself had sent them forth with the message, 
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; 
repent ye, and believe the gospel." 1 That message w T as based 
on the prophecy of Daniel 9. The sixty-nine weeks were 
declared by the angel to extend to " the Messiah the Prince," 
and with high hopes and joyful anticipations the disciples 
looked forward to the establishment of Messiah's kingdom 
at Jerusalem, to rule o\ T er the whole earth. 

They preached the message which Christ had committed 
to them, though they themselves misapprehended its mean- 
ing. While their announcement was founded on Dan. 9 : 25, 
they did not see, in the next verse of the same chapter, that 
Messiah was to be cut off. From their very birth their 
hearts had been set upon the anticipated glory of an earthly 
empire, and this blinded their understanding alike to the 
specifications of the prophecy and to the words of Christ. 

They performed their duty in presenting to the Jewish 
nation the invitation of mercy, and then, at the very time 
when they expected to see their Lord ascend the throne of 
David, they beheld him seized as a malefactor, scourged, 
derided, and condemned, and lifted up on the cross of Cal- 
vary. What despair and anguish wrung the hearts of those 
disciples during the days while their Lord was sleeping in 
the tomb ! 

^larkl:^. 



346 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Christ had come at the exact time and in the manner 
foretold by prophecy. The testimony of Scripture had been 
fulfilled in every detail of his ministry. He had preached 
the message of salvation, and " his word was with power." 
The hearts of his hearers had witnessed that it was of 
Heaven. The Word and the Spirit of God attested the 
divine commission of his Son. 

The disciples still clung with undying affection to their 
beloved Master. And yet their minds were shrouded in 
uncertainty and doubt. In their anguish they did not then 
recall the words of Christ pointing forward to his suffering 
and death. If Jesus of Nazareth had been the true Messiah, 
would they have been thus plunged in grief and disappoint- 
ment? This was the question that tortured their souls, 
while the Saviour lay in his sepulcher during the hopeless 
hours of that Sabbath which intervened between his death 
and his resurrection. 

Though the night of sorrow gathered dark about these 
followers of Jesus, yet were they not forsaken. Saith the 
prophet: "When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light 
unto me. . . . He will bring me forth to the light, and 
I shall behold his righteousness." " Yea, the darkness hideth 
not from thee; but the night shineth as the day; the dark- 
ness and the light are both alike to thee." God hath spoken: 
"Unto the upright there ariseth light"' in the darkness.". "I 
will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will 
lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make 
darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. 
These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." 1 

The announcement which had been made by the disciples 
in the name of the Lord was in every particular correct, 
and the events to which it pointed were even then taking 
place. "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at 
hand," had- been their message. At the expiration of " the 
time" — the sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 9, which were to ex- 

1 Micah 7 : 8, 9; Ps. 139 : 12; 112:4; Isa. 42 : 16. 



LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS. 347 



tend to the Messiah, "the Anointed One" — Christ had re- 
ceived the anointing of the Spirit, after his baptism by John 
in Jordan. And the "kingdom of God" which they had 
declared to be at hand, was established by the death of 
Christ. This kingdom was not, as they had been taught to 
believe, an earthly empire. Nor was it that future, immor- 
tal kingdom which shall be set up when "the kingdom and 
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the 
whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of 
the Most High;" that everlasting kingdom, in which "all 
dominions shall serve and obey him." 1 As used in the 
Bible, the expression "kingdom of God" is employed to des- 
ignate both the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. 
The kingdom of grace is brought to view by Paul in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews. After pointing to Christ, the com- 
passionate intercessor who is " touched with the feeling of our 
infirmities," the apostle says, " Let us therefore come boldly 
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find 
grace." 2 The throne of grace represents the kingdom of grace; 
for the existence of a throne implies the existence of a king- 
dom. In many of his parables, Christ uses the expression, 
"the kingdom of Heaven," to designate the work of divine 
grace upon the hearts of men. 

So the throne of glory represents the kingdom of glory, 
and this kingdom is referred to in the Saviour's words, 
" "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the 
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of 
his glory ; and before him shall be gathered all nations." 3 
This kingdom is yet future. It is not to be set up until the 
second advent of Christ, 

The kingdom of grace was instituted immediately after 
the fall of man, when a plan was devised for the redemption 
of the guilty race. It then existed in the purpose and by 
the promise of God; and through faith, men could become 
its subjects. Yet it was not actually established until the 



26 



348 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



death of Christ. Even after entering upon his earthly mis- 
sion, the Saviour, wearied with the stubbornness and ingrat- 
itude of men, might have drawn back from the sacrifice of 
Calvary. In Gethsemane the cup of woe trembled in his 
hand. He might even then have wiped the blood-sweat from 
his brow, and have left the guilty race to perish in their 
iniquity. Had he done this, there could have been no 
redemption for fallen men. But when the Saviour yielded 
up his life, and with his expiring breath cried out, " It is 
finished," then the fulfillment of the plan of redemption was 
assured. The promise of salvation made to the sinful pair 
in Eden was ratified. The kingdom of grace, which had 
before existed by the promise of God, was then established. 

Thus the death of Christ — the very event which the dis- 
ciples had looked upon as the final destruction of their hope 
— was that which made it forever sure. While it had 
brought them a cruel disappointment, it was the climax of 
proof that their belief had been correct. The event that 
had filled them with mourning and despair, was that which 
opened the door of hope to every child of Adam, and in 
which centered the future life and eternal happiness of all 
God's faithful ones in all the ages. 

Purposes of infinite mercy were reaching their fulfill- 
ment, even through the disappointment of the disciples. 
AVhile their hearts had been won by the divine grace and 
power of His teaching, who " spake as never man spake," yet 
intermingled with the pure gold of their love for Jesus, was 
the base alloy of worldly pride and selfish ambitions. Even 
in the passover chamber, at that solemn hour when their 
Master was already entering the shadow of Gethsemane, 
there was " a strife among them, which of them should be 
accounted the greatest." 1 Their vision was filled with the 
throne, the crown, and the glory, while just before them lay 
the shame and agony of the garden, the judgment-hall, the 
cross of Calvary. It was their pride of heart, their thirst for 
worldly glory, that had led them to cling so tenaciously to 

1 Luke 22 : 24. 



t TG II T TllR 1 7/ // DA RKXESS. 34! I 



the false teaching of their time, and to pass unheeded the 

Saviour's words showing the true nature of his kingdom, 
and pointing forward to his agony and death. And these 
errors resulted in the trial — sharp but needful — which was 
permitted for their correction. Though the disciples had 
mistaken the meaning of their message, and had failed to 
realize their expectations, vet they had preached the warning 
given them of God, and the Lord would reward their faith, 
and honor their obedience. To them was to be intrusted 
the work of heralding to all nations the glorious gospel of 
their risen Lord. It was to prepare them for this work, 
that the experience which seemed to them so bitter had 
been permitted. 

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples on 
the way to Emmaus, and "beginning at Moses and all the 
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the 
things concerning himself." 1 The hearts of the disciples 
were stirred. Faith was kindled. They were "begotten 
again unto a lively hope," even before Jesus revealed him- 
self to them. It was his purpose to enlighten their under- 
standing, and to fasten their faith upon the "sure word of 
prophecy." He wished the truth to take firm root in their 
minds, not merely because it was supported by his personal 
testimony, but because of the unquestionable evidence pre- 
sented by the symbols and shadows of the typical law, and 
by the prophecies of the Old Testament. It was needful for 
the followers of Christ to have an intelligent faith, not only 
in their own behalf, but that they might carry the knowledge 
of Christ to the world. And as the very first step in impart- 
ing this knowledge, Jesus directed the disciples to "Moses 
and the prophets." Such was the testimony given by the 
risen Saviour to the value and importance of the Old-Testa- 
ment Scriptures. 

AY hat a change was wrought in the hearts of the disci- 
ples, as they looked once more on the loved countenance of 
their Master! 1 In a more complete and perfect sense than 

1 Luke 24 : 27. 



350 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

ever before, they had "found him, of whom Moses in the 
law j and the prophets, did write." The uncertainty, the 
anguish, the despair, gave place to perfect assurance, to 
unclouded faith. What marvel that after his ascension 
they " were continually in the temple, praising and bless- 
ing God." The people, knowing only of the Saviour's igno- 
minious death, looked to see in their faces the expression 
of sorrow, confusion, and defeat; but they saw there gladness 
and triumph. What a preparation these disciples had 
received for the work before them ! They had passed through 
the deepest trial which it was possible for them to experience, 
and had seen how, when to human vision all was lost, the 
word of God had been triumphantly accomplished. Hence- 
forward what could daunt their faith, or chill the ardor of 
their love? In the keenest sorrow they had "strong consola- 
tion," a hope which was as " an anchor of the soul, both sure 
and steadfast." l They had been witness to the wisdom and 
power of God, and they were "persuaded, that neither death, 
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
other creature" would be able to separate them from "the 
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." " In all 
these things," they said, " we are more than conquerors 
through Him that loved us." 2 "The Word of the Lord 
endureth forever." 3 And "who is he that condemneth? It 
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even 
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession 
for us." * 

Saith the Lord :" My people shall never be ashamed." 5 
" Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the 
morning." 6 When on his resurrection day these disciples 
met the Saviour, and their hearts burned within them as they 
listened to his words; when they looked upon the head 
and hands and feet that had been bruised for them ; when, 
before his ascension, Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, 

1 Heb. 6:18, 19. 2 Rom. 8 : 38, 39, 37. 3 1 Pet. 1 : 25. 

i Rom. 8 : 34. 5 Joel 2 : 26. « Ps. 30 : 5. 



LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS. 351 



and, lifting up his hands in blessing, bade them, "Go ye into 
all the world, and preach the gospel," adding, " Lo, I am 
with you alway;" 1 when on the day of Pentecost the prom- 
ised Comforter descended, and the power from on high was 
given, and the souls of the believers thrilled with the con- 
scious presence of their ascended Lord, — then, even though, 
like his, their pathway led through sacrifice and martyrdom, 
would they have exchanged the ministry of the gospel of 
his grace, with the " crown of righteousness " to be received 
at his coming, for the glory of an earthly throne, which 
had been the hope of their earlier discipleship ? He who is 
" able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 
think," had granted them, with the fellowship of His suffer- 
ings, the communion of his joy, — the joy of " bringing many 
sons unto glory," joy unspeakable, "an eternal weight of 
glory," to which, says Paul, "our light affliction, which is 
but for a moment," is " not worthy to be compared." 

The experience of the disciples who preached the " gospel 
of the kingdom " at the first advent of Christ, has its coun- 
terpart in the experience of those who proclaimed the mes- 
sage of his second advent. As the disciples went out preach- 
ing, " The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand," 
so Miller and his associates proclaimed that the longest and 
last prophetic period brought to view in the Bible was about 
to expire, that the Judgment was at hand, and the everlast- 
ing kingdom was to be ushered in. The preaching of the 
disciples in regard to time was based on the seventy weeks 
of Daniel 9. The message given by Miller and his associates 
announced the termination of the 2300 days of Dan. 8 : 14, 
of which the seventy weeks form a part. The preaching of 
each was based upon the fulfillment of a different portion of 
the same great prophetic period. 

Like the first disciples, William Miller and his associates 
did not, themselves, fully comprehend the import of the 
message which they bore. Errors that had been long estab- 
lished in the church prevented them from arriving at a cor- 

iMark 16 : 15 ; Matt. 28:20. 



352 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



rect interpretation of an important point in the prophecy. 
Therefore, though they proclaimed the message which God 
had. committed to them to be given to the world, yet through 
a misapprehension of its meaning, they suffered disappoint- 
ment, 

In explaining Dan. 8 : 14, " Unto two thousand and three 
hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed, " Miller, 
as has been stated, adopted the generally received view that 
the earth is the sanctuary, and he believed that the cleansing 
of the sanctuary represented the purification of the earth by 
tire at the coming of the Lord. When, therefore, he found 
that the close of the 2300 days was definitely foretold, he 
concluded that this revealed the time of the second advent. 
His error resulted from accepting the popular view as to 
what constitutes the sanctuary. 

In the typical system, — which was a shadow of the sacri- 
fice and priesthood of Christ, — the cleansing of the sanct- 
uary was the last service performed by the high priest in the 
yearly round of ministration. It was the closing work of 
the atonement, — a removal or putting away of sin from 
Israel. It prefigured the closing work in the ministration 
of our High Priest in Heaven, in the rempval or blotting 
out of the sins of his people, which are registered in the 
heavenly records. This service involves a work of investi- 
gation, a work of judgment; and it immediately precedes 
the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven with power 
and great glory; for when he comes, every case has been 
decided. Says Jesus, " My reward is with me, to give every 
man according as his work shall be." x It is this work of 
judgment, immediately preceding the second advent, that is 
announced in the first angel's message of Rev. 14: 7: "Fear 
God, and give glory to him ; for the hour of his Judgment 
is come." 

Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right mes-' 
sage at the right time. But as the early disciples declared, 
" The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand," 

1 Rev. 22 : 12. 



LIGHT Timor (HI DARKNESS. 353 

based on the prophecy of Daniel 9, while they failed to per- 
ceive that the death of the Messiah was foretold in the same 
scripture, so Miller and his associates preached the message 
based on Dan. 8:14 and Rev. 14:7, and failed to see that 
there were still other messages brought to view in Revela- 
tion 14, which were also to be given before the advent of the 
Lord. As the disciples were mistaken in regard to the king- 
dom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks, so Advent- 
ists were mistaken in regard to the event to take place at 
the expiration of the 2300 days. In both cases there was an 
acceptance of, or rather an adherence to, popular errors that 
blinded the mind to the truth. Both classes fulfilled the 
will of God in delivering the message which he desired to 
be given, and both, through their own misapprehension of 
their message, suffered disappointment. 

Yet God accomplished his own beneficent purpose in per- 
mitting the warning of the Judgment to be given just as it 
was. The great day was at hand, and in his providence the 
people were brought to the test of a definite time, in order 
to reveal to them what was in their hearts. The message 
was designed for the testing and purification of the church. 
They were to be led to see whether their affections were set 
upon this world or upon Christ and Heaven. They pro- 
fessed to love the Saviour; now they were to prove their 
love. Were they ready to renounce their worldly hopes 
and ambitions, and welcome with joy the advent of their 
Lord ? The message was designed to enable them to discern 
their true spiritual state, it was sent in mercy to arouse 
them to seek the Lord with repentance and humiliation. 

The disappointment also, though the result of their own 
misapprehension of the message which they gave, was to be 
overruled for good. It would test the hearts of those who 
had professed to receive the warning. In the face of their 
disappointment, would they rashly give up their experience, 
and cast away their confidence in God's Word? or would they, 
in prayer and humility, seek to discern where they had 



354 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

failed to comprehend the significance of the prophecy? How 
many had moved from fear, or from impulse and excite- 
ment? How many w T ere half-hearted and unbelieving? 
Multitudes professed to love the appearing of the Lord. 
When called to endure the scoffs and reproach of the world, 
and the test of delay and disappointment, would they 
renounce the faith? Because they did not immediately 
understand the dealings of God w T ith them, would they cast 
aside truths sustained by the clearest testimony of his Word? 

This test would reveal the strength of those who with real 
faith had obeyed what they believed to be the teaching of 
the Word and the Spirit of God. It would teach them, as 
only such an experience could, the danger of accepting the 
theories and interpretations of men, instead of making the 
Bible its own interpreter. To the children of faith the per- 
plexity and sorrow resulting from their error, would work 
the needed correction. They would be led to a closer study 
of the prophetic word. They would be taught to examine 
more carefully the foundation of their faith, and to reject 
everything, however widely accepted by the Christian world, 
that was not founded upon the Scriptures of truth. 

With these believers, as with the first disciples, that which 
in the hour of trial seemed dark to their understanding, 
would afterward be made plain. When they should see the 
" end of the Lord," they would know that notwithstanding 
the trial resulting from their errors, his purposes of love 
toward them had been steadily fulfilling. They would learn 
by a blessed experience that he is "very pitiful, and of ten- 
der mercy;" that all his paths " are mercy and truth unto 
such as keep his covenant and his testimonies." 



CHAPTER XX. 



A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 

A great religious awakening under the proclamation of 
Christ's soon coming, is foretold in the prophecy of the first 
angel's message of Revelation 14. An angel is seen flying 
"in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to 
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every 
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." " With a loud 
voice" he proclaims the message, "Fear God, and give glory 
to him ; for the hour of his Judgment is come : and worship 
him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the 
fountains of waters." 1 

The fact that an angel is said to be the herald of this warn- 
ing, is significant. By the purity, the glory, and the power 
of the heavenly messenger, divine wisdom has been pleased 
to represent the exalted character of the Avork to be accom- 
plished by the message, and the power and glory that were 
to attend it. And the angel's flight " in the midst of heaven," 
the " loud voice " with which the warning is uttered, and 
its promulgation to all "that dwell on the earth," — "to 
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,"— give 
evidence of the rapidity and world-wide extent of the move- 
ment. 

The message itself sheds light as to the time when this 
movement is to take place. It is declared to be a part of 
the " everlasting gospel ; " and it announces the opening of 
the Judgment, The message of salvation has been preached 
in ail ages; but this message is a part of the gospel which 
could be proclaimed only in the last days, for only then 

1 Rev. 14:6, 7. 

(355) 



356 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



would it be true that the hour of Judgment had come. The 
prophecies present a succession of events leading down to 
the opening of the Judgment. This is especially true of the 
book of Daniel. But that part of his prophecy which re- 
lated to the last days, Daniel was bidden to close up and 
seal "to the time of the end." Not till we reach this time 
could a message concerning the Judgment be proclaimed, 
based on a fulfillment of these prophecies. But at the time 
of the end, says the prophet, " many shall run to and fro, 
and knowledge shall be increased." 1 

The apostle Paul warned the church not to look for the 
coming of Christ in his day. " That day shall not come," 
he says, " except there come a falling away first, and that 
man of sin be revealed."? Not till after the great apostasy, 
and the long period of the reign of the " man of sin," can we 
look for the advent of our Lord. The " man of sin," which is 
also styled the " mystery of iniquity," the "son of perdition," 
and "that wicked," represents the papacy, which, as foretold 
in prophecy, was to maintain its supremacy for 1260 years. 
This period ended in 1798. The coining of Christ could 
not take place before that time. Paul covers with his cau- 
tion the whole of the Christian dispensation down to the 
year 1798. It is this side of that time that the message of 
Christ's second coming is to be proclaimed. 

No such message has ever been given in past ages. Paul, 
as we have seen, did not preach it ; he pointed his brethren 
into the then far-distant future for the coming of the Lord. 
The reformers did not proclaim it. Martin Luther placed 
the Judgment about three hundred years in the future from 
his day. But since 1798 the book of Daniel has been un- 
sealed, knowledge of the prophecies has increased, and 
many have proclaimed the solemn message of the Judgment 
near. 

Like the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, the 
Advent movement appeared in different countries of Chris- 

1 JJan. 12:4. a "2 Thtss. 2:3. 



A GREA T RELIGIOUS A WAKENING. 357 



tendom at the same time. In both Europe and America, 
men of faith and prayer were led to the study of the proph- 
ecies, and, tracing down the inspired record, they saw con- 
vincing evidence that the end of all things was at hand. 
In different lands there were isolated bodies of Christians, 
who, solely by the study of the Scriptures, arrived at the 
belief that the Saviour's advent was near. 

In 1821, three years after Miller had arrived at his exposi- 
tion of the prophecies pointing to the time of the Judgment, 
Dr. Joseph Wolff, "the missionary to the world," began 
to proclaim the Lord's soon coming. Wolff was born in 
Germany, of Hebrew parentage, his father being a Jewish 
Rabbi. While very young he was convinced of the truth 
of the Christian religion. Of an active, inquiring mind, he 
had been an eager listener to the conversations that took 
place in his father's house, as devout Hebrews daily assem- 
bled to recount the hopes and anticipations of their people, 
the glory of the coming Messiah, and the restoration of 
Israel. One day hearing Jesus of Nazareth mentioned, the 
boy inquired who he was. "A man of the greatest talent," 
was the answer; "but because he pretended to be the Mes- 
siah, the Jewish tribunal sentenced him to death." "Why, 
then," rejoined the questioner, "why is Jerusalem destroyed? 
and why are we in captivity?" "Alas, alas!" answered his 
father, "because the Jews murdered the prophets." The 
thought was at once suggested to the child, " Perhaps Jesus 
of Nazareth was also a prophet, and the Jews killed him 
when he was innocent." So strong was this feeling, that 
though forbidden to enter a Christian church, he would 
often linger outside to listen to the preaching. 

AVhen only seven years old, he was boasting to an aged 
Christian neighbor of the future triumph of Israel at the 
advent of the Messiah, when the old man said kindly, "Dear 
boy, I will tell you who the real Messiah was: he was Jesus 
of Nazareth, whom your ancestors crucified, as they slew 
the prophets of old. Go home and read the fifty-third 



358 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



chapter of Isaiah, and }^ou will be convinced that Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God." Conviction at once fastened upon 
him. He went home and read the scripture, wondering to 
see how perfectly it had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. 
Were the words of the Christian true? The boy asked of 
his father an explanation of the prophecy, but was met with 
a silence so stern that he never again dared to refer to the 
subject. This however only increased his desire to know 
more of the Christian religion. 

The knowledge he sought was studiously kept from him 
in his Jewish home ; but when only eleven years old, he left 
his father's house, and went out into the world to gain for 
himself an education, to choose his religion and his life-work. 
He found a home for a" time with kinsmen, but was soon 
driven from them as an apostate, and alone and penniless 
he had to make his own way among strangers. He went 
from place to place, studying diligently, and maintaining 
himself by teaching Hebrew. Through the influence of a 
Catholic instructor, he was led to accept the Romish faith, 
and formed the purpose of becoming a missionary to his 
own people. With this object he went, a few years later, to 
pursue his studies in the College of the Propaganda at Rome. 
Here his habit of independent thought and candid speech 
brought upon him the imputation of heresy. He openly 
attacked the abuses of the church, and urged the necessity 
of reform. Though at first treated with special favor by the 
papal dignitaries, he was after a time removed from Rome. 
Under the surveillance of the church he went from place 
to place, until it became evident that he could never be 
brought to submit to the bondage of Romanism. He was 
declared to be incorrigible, and was left at liberty to go Avhere 
he pleased. He now made his way to England, and, pro- 
fessing the Protestant faith, united with the English Church. 
After two years' study he set out, in 1821, upon his mission. 

While Wolff accepted the great truth of Christ's first 
advent as "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," he 



A GREA T RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 359 

saw that the prophecies bring to view with equal clearness 
his second advent with power and glory. And while he 
sought to lead his people to Jesus of Nazareth as the Prom- 
ised One, and to point them to his first coming in humiliation 
as a sacrifice for the sins of men, he taught them also of his 
second coming as a king and deliverer. 

" Jesus of Nazareth, the true Messiah," he said, " whose 
hands and feet were pierced, who was brought like a lamb 
to the slaughter, who was a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief, who after the scepter was taken from Judah, and 
the legislative power from between his feet, came the first 
time, shall come the second time in the clouds of heaven, 
and with the trump of the archangel," and "shall stand 
upon the Mount of Olives. And that dominion once con- 
signed to Adam over the creation and forfeited by him (Gen. 
1 : 26 ; 3:17) shall be given to Jesus. He shall be king over all 
the earth. The groanings and lamentations of the creation 
shall cease, but songs of praise and thanksgiving shall be 
heard." "When Jesus comes in the glory of his Father 
with the holy angels," " the dead believers shall rise first. 
1 Thess. 4:16 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 23. This is what we Christians call 
the first resurrection. Then the animal kingdom shall 
change its nature (Isa. 11 : 6-9), and shall be subdued unto 
Jesus. Ps. 8. Universal peace shall prevail." "The Lord 
again shall look down upon the earth, and say, ' Behold, it is 
very good.'" 

Wolff believed the coming of the Lord to be at hand, 
his interpretation of the prophetic periods placing the great 
consummation within a very few years of the time pointed 
Dut by Miller. To those who urged from the scripture, " Of 
that day and hour knoweth no man," that men are to know 
nothing concerning the nearness of the advent, Wolff 
replied: "Did our Lord say that the day and hour should 
never be known? Did he not give us signs of the times, in 
order that we may know at least the approach of his coming, 
as one knows the approach of summer by the fig-tree put- 



360 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



ting forth its leaves? Are we never to know that period, 
whilst he himself exhorteth not only to read Daniel the 
prophet but to understand him? And in that very Daniel 
where it is said that the words were shut up to the time of 
the end (which was the case in his time), and that ' many 
shall run to and fro ' (a Hebrew expression for observing and 
thinking upon the time), and 'knowledge' (regarding that 
time) 'shall be increased.' Besides this, our Lord does not 
intend to say by this, that the approach of the time shall not 
be known, but that the exact ' day and hour knoweth no 
man.' He does say that enough shall be known by the signs 
of the times, to induce us to prepare for his coming, as 
Noah prepared the ark." 

Concerning the popular system of interpreting, or misin 
terpreting, the Scriptures, Wolff wrote : " The greater part of 
the Christian church have swerved from the plain sense of 
Scripture, and have turned to the phantomizing system of 
the Buddhists; they believe that the future happiness of 
mankind will consist in moving about in the air, and sup- 
pose that when they are reading Jews, they must understand 
Gentiles; and when they read Jerusalem, they must under- 
stand the church; and if it said earth, it means sky; and for 
the coming of the Lord they must understand the progress of 
the missionary societies; and going up to the mountain of 
the Lord's house, signifies a grand class-meeting of Methodists." 

During the twenty-four years from 1821 to 1845, Wolff 
traveled extensively: in Africa, visiting Egypt and Abys- 
sinia; in Asia, traversing Palestine, Syria, Persia, Bokhara, 
and India. He also visited the United States, on the jour- 
ney thither preaching on the island of St. Helena. He 
arrived in New York in August, 1837; and after speaking in 
that city, he preached in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and 
finally proceeded to Washington. Here, he says, "on a 
motion brought forward by the ex-President, John Quincy 
Adams, in one of the houses of Congress, the House unani- 
mously granted me the use of the Congress Hall for a lect- 




JOSEPH WOLFF AMONG THE ARABS. 



.1 GR EA T RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 361 

tire, which I delivered on a" Saturday, honored with the pres- 
ence of all the members of Congrejs, and also of the bishop 
of Virginia, and the clergy and citizens of Washington. 
The same honor was granted to me by the members of the 
Government of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in whose pres- 
ence I delivered lectures on my researches in Asia, and also 
on the personal reign of Jesus Christ." 

Dr. Wolff traveled in the most barbarous countries, with- 
out the protection of any European authority, enduring 
many hardships, and surrounded with countless perils. He 
was bastinadoed and starved, sold as a slave, and three times 
condemned to death. He was beset by robbers, and some- 
times nearly perished from thirst. Once he was stripped 
of all that he possessed, and left to travel hundreds of 
miles on foot through the mountains, the snow beating in 
his face, and his naked feet, benumbed by contact with the 
frozen ground. 

When warned against going unarmed amongst savage 
and hostile tribes, he declared himself provided with arms, 
— "prayer, zeal for Christ, and confidence in his help." "I 
am also," he said, " provided with the love of God and my 
neighbor in my heart, and the Bible is in my hand-" The 
Bible in Hebrew and English he carried with him wherever 
he went. Of one of his later journeys he says, "I kept the 
Bible open in my hand. I felt my power was in the book, 
and that its might would sustain me." 

Thus he persevered in his labors until the message of the 
Judgment had been carried to a large part of the habitable 
globe. Among Jews, Turks, Parsees, Hindoos, and many 
other nationalities and races, he distributed the Word of God 
in these various tongues, and everywhere heralded the 
approaching reign of the Messiah. 

In his travels in Bokhara he found the doctrine of the 
Lord's soon coming held by a remote and isolated people. 
The Arabs of Yemen, he says, " are in possession of a book 
called 'Seera/ which gives notice of the coming of Christ 

27 



362 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

and his reign in glory, and they expect great events to take 
place in the year 1840." " In Yemen I spent six days with 
the Rechabites. They drink no wine, plant no vineyards, 
sow no seed, live in tents, and remember the words of Jona- 
dab, the son of Rechab. With them were the children of 
Israel of the tribe of Dan, . . . who expect, in common 
with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Mes- 
siah in the clonds of heaven." 

A similar belief was found by another missionary to exist in 
Tartary. A Tartar priest put the question to the missionary, 
as to when Christ would come the second, time. When the 
missionary answered that he knew nothing about it, the 
priest seemed greatly surprised at such ignorance in one who 
professed to be a Bible teacher, and stated his own belief, 
founded on prophecy, that Christ would come about 1844. 

As early as 1826 the Advent message began to be preached 
in England. The movement here did not take so definite 
a form as in America, the exact time of the advent was not 
so generally taught, but the great truth of Christ's soon com- 
ing in power and glory was extensively proclaimed. And 
this not among dissenters and non-conformists only. Mou- 
rant Brock, an English writer, states that about seven hun- 
dred ministers of the Church of England were engaged in 
preaching this "gospel of the kingdom." The message 
pointing to 1844 as the time of the Lord's coming was also 
given in Great Britain. Advent publications from the 
United States were widely circulated. Books and journals 
were republished in England. And in 1842, Robert Winter, 
an Englishman by birth, who had received the Advent faith 
in America, returned to his native country to herald the 
coming 'of the Lord. Many united with him in the work, 
and the message of the Judgment was proclaimed in various 
parts of England. 

In South America, in the midst of barbarism and priest- 
craft, Lacunza, a Spaniard and a Jesuit, found his way to 
the Scriptures, and thus received the truth of Christ's speedy 



A ORE A T RELIGIOUS A WAKENING. 363 

return. Impelled to give the warning, yet desiring to escape 
the censures of Rome, he published his views under the 
assumed name of "Rabbi Ben-Israel/' representing himself 
as a converted Jew. Lacunza lived in the eighteenth cent- 
ury, but it was about 1825 that his book, having found its 
way to London, was translated into the English language. 
Its publication served to deepen the interest already awaken- 
ing in England in the subject of the second advent. 

In Germany the doctrine had been taught in the eight- 
eenth century by Bengel, a minister in the Lutheran Church, 
and a celebrated Biblical scholar and critic. Upon com- 
pleting his education, Bengel had devoted himself to the 
study of theology, "to which the grave and religious tone 
of his mind, deepened and strengthened by his early train- 
ing and discipline, naturally inclined him. Like other 
young men of thoughtful character, before and since, he 
had to struggle with doubts and difficulties of a religious 
nature, and he alludes, with much feeling, to the 'many 
arrows which pierced his poor heart, and made his youth 
hard to bear.'" Becoming a member of the consistory of 
Wurtemberg, he advocated the cause of religious liberty, 
urging " that all reasonable freedom be accorded those who 
felt themselves bound, on grounds of conscience, to with- 
draw from the established church." The good effects of this 
policy are still felt in his native province. 

It was while preparing a sermon from Revelation 21 for 
"Advent Sunday " that the light of Christ's second coming 
broke in upon Bengel's mind. The prophecies of the Rev- 
elation unfolded to his understanding as never before. Over- 
whelmed with a sense of the stupendous importance and 
surpassing glory of the scenes presented by the prophet, he 
was forced to turn for a time from the contemplation of the 
subject. In the pulpit it again presented itself to him with 
all its vividness and power. From that time he devoted 
himself to the study of the prophecies, especially those of the 
Apocalypse, and soon arrived at the belief that they pointed 



364 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



to the coming of Christ as near. The date which he fixed 
upon as the time of the second advent was within a very 
few years of that afterward held by Miller. 

Bengel's writings have been spread throughout. Christen- 
dom. His views of prophecy were quite generally received 
in his own State of Wiirtemberg, and to some extent in 
other parts of Germany. The movement continued after his 
death, and the Advent message was heard in Germany at 
the same time that it was attracting attention in other lands. 
At an early date some of the believers went to Russia, and 
there formed colonies, and the faith of Christ's soon coming 
is still held by the German churches of that country. 

The light shone also in France and Switzerland. At 
Geneva, where Farel and Calvin had spread the truths of the 
Reformation, Gaussen preached the message of the second 
advent. While a student at school, Gaussen had encountered 
that spirit of rationalism which pervaded all Europe during 
the latter part of the eighteenth and the opening of the nine- 
teenth century; and when he entered the ministry he was 
not only ignorant of true faith, but inclined to skepticism. 
In his youth he had become interested in the study of proph- 
ecy. After reading "Rollin's Ancient History," his attention 
was called to the second chapter of Daniel, and he was 
struck with the wonderful exactness with which the proph- 
ecy had been fulfilled, as seen in the historian's record. 
Here was a testimony to the inspiration of the Scriptures, 
which served as an anchor to him amid the perils of later 
years. He could not rest satisfied with the teachings of 
rationalism, and in studying the Bible and searching for 
clearer light he was, after a time, led to a positive faith. 

As he pursued his investigation of the prophecies, he 
arrived at the belief that the coming of the Lord w T as at 
hand. Impressed with the solemnity and importance of 
this great truth, he desired to bring it before the people, but 
the popular belief that the prophecies of Daniel are mys- 
teries and cannot be understood, was a serious obstacle in 



.! GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 365 

his way. He finally determined — as Farel had done before 
him in evangelizing Geneva — to begin with the children, 
through whom he hoped to interest the parents. 

" I desire this to be understood," he afterward said, speak- 
ing of his object in this undertaking, "it is not because of 
its small importance, but on the contrary because of its 
great value, that I wished to present it in this familiar form, 
and that I addressed it to the children. I desired to be 
heard, and I feared that - 1 would not be if I addressed 
myself to the grown people first." " I determined therefore 
to go to the youngest. I gather an audience of children ; if 
the group enlarges, if it is seen that they listen, are pleased, 
interested, that they understand and explain the subject, I 
am sure to have a second circle soon, and in their turn, 
grown people will see that it is worth their while to sit down 
and study. When this is done, the cause is gained." 

The effort was successful. As he addressed the children, 
older persons came to listen. The galleries of his church 
were filled with attentive hearers. Among them were men 
of rank and learning, and strangers and foreigners visiting 
Geneva, and thus the message was carried to other parts. 

Encouraged by this success, Gaussen published his lessons, 
with the hope of promoting the study of the prophetic books 
in the churches of the French-speaking people. " To pub- 
lish instruction given to the children," says Gaussen, a is to 
say to adults, who too often neglect such books under 
the false pretense that they are obscure, ' How can they be 
obscure, since your children understand them?' " "I had a 
great desire," he adds, "to render a knowledge of the proph- 
ecies popular in our flocks, if possible." "There is no study, 
indeed, which it seems to me answers the needs of the time 
better." " It is by this that we are to prepare for the tribu- 
lation near at hand, and watch and wait for Jesus Christ." 

Though one of the most distinguished and beloved of 
preachers in the French language, Gaussen was after a time 
suspended from the ministry, his principal offense being that 



366 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

instead of the church's catechism, a tame and rationalistic 
manual, almost destitute of positive faith, he had used the 
Bible in giving instruction to the youth. He afterward 
became teacher in a theological school, while on Sunday 
he continued his work as catechist, addressing the children, 
and instructing them in the Scriptures. His works on 
prophecy also excited much interest. From the professor's 
chair, through the press, and in his favorite occupation as 
teacher of children, he continued for many years to exert an 
extensive influence, and was instrumental in calling the 
attention of many to the study of the prophecies which 
showed that the coming of the Lord was near. 

In Scandinavia also the Advent message was proclaimed, 
and a widespread interest was kindled. Many were roused 
from their careless security, to confess and forsake their sins, 
and seek pardon in the name of Christ. But the clergy of 
the State church opposed the movement, and through their 
influence some who preached the message were thrown into 
prison. In many places where the preachers of the Lord's 
soon coming were thus silenced, God was pleased to send the 
message, in a miraculous manner, through little children. 
As they were under age, the law of the State could not 
restrain them, and they were permitted to speak unmolested. 

The movement was chiefly among the lower class, and 
it was in the humble dwellings of the laborers that the 
people assembled to hear the warning. The child-preachers 
themselves were mostly poor cottagers. Some of them were 
not more than six or eight years of age, and while their 
lives testified that they loved the Saviour, and were trying to 
live in obedience to God's holy requirements, they ordinarily 
manifested only the intelligence and ability usually seen in 
children of that age. When standing before the people, 
however, it was evident that they were moved by an influ- 
ence beyond their own natural gifts. Tone and manner 
changed, and with solemn power they gave the warning of 
the Judgment, employing the very words of Scripture, 



A GREA T RELIGIOUS A WAKENING. 367 

"Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his 
Judgment is come." They reproved the sins of the people, 
not only condemning immorality and vice, but rebuking 
worldliness and backsliding, and warning their hearers to 
make haste to flee from the wrath to come. 

The people heard with trembling. The convicting Spirit 
of God spoke to their hearts. Many were led to search the 
Scriptures with new and deeper interest, the intemperate and 
immoral were reformed, others abandoned their dishonest 
practices, and a work was done so marked that even minis- 
ters of the State church were forced to acknowledge that the 
hand of God was in the movement. 

It was God's will that the tidings of the Saviour's coming 
should be given in the Scandinavian countries ; and when 
the voices of his servants were silenced, he put his Spirit 
upon the children, that the work might be accomplished. 
When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem attended by the rejoic- 
ing multitudes that, with shouts of triumph and the wav- 
ing of palm branches, heralded him as the Son of David, 
the jealous Pharisees called upon him to silence them; but 
Jesus answered that all this was in fulfillment of proph- 
ecy, and if these should hold their peace, the very stones 
would cry out. The people, intimidated by the threats of 
the priests and rulers, ceased their joyful proclamation as 
they entered the gates of Jerusalem ; but the children in the 
temple courts afterward took up the refrain, and, waving 
their branches of palm, they cried, "Hosanna to the Son 
of David!" 1 When the Pharisees, sorely displeased, said 
unto him, "Hearest thou what these say?" Jesus answered, 
"Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and 
sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" As God wrought 
through children at the time of Christ's first advent, so he 
wrought through them in giving the message of his seco nd 
advent. God's Word must be fulfilled, that the proclamation 
of the Saviour's coming should be given to all peoples, 
tongues, and nations. 

1 Matt. 21 :S-16. 



368 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

To William Miller and his co-laborers it was given to 
preach the warning in America. This country became the 
center of the great Advent movement. It was here that 
the prophecy of the first angel's message had its most 
direct fulfillment. The writings of Miller and his asso- 
ciates were carried to distant lands. Wherever missionaries 
had penetrated in all the world, were sent the glad tidings 
of Christ's speedy return. Far and wide spread the message 
of the everlasting gospel, " Fear God, and give glory to him ; 
for the hour of his Judgment is come." 

The testimony of the prophecies which seemed to point to 
the coming of Christ in the spring of 1844 took deep hold of 
the minds of the people. As the message went from State 
to State, there was everywhere awakened widespread interest. 
Many were convinced that the arguments from the prophetic 
periods were correct, and, sacrificing their pride of opinion, 
they joyfully received the truth. Some ministers laid aside 
their sectarian views and feelings, left their salaries and 
their churches, and united in proclaiming the coming of 
Jesus. There were comparatively few ministers, however, 
who would accept this message ; therefore it was largely 
committed to humble laymen. Farmers left their fields, 
mechanics their tools, traders their merchandise, professional 
men their positions; and yet the number of workers was 
small in comparison with the work to be accomplished. The 
condition of an ungodly church and a world lying in wick- 
edness burdened the souls of the true watchmen, and they 
willingly endured toil, privation, and suffering, that they 
might call men to repentance unto salvation. Though 
opposed by Satan, the work went steadily forward, and the 
Advent truth was accepted by many thousands. 

Everywhere the searching testimony was heard, warning 
sinners, both worldlings and church-members, to flee from 
the wrath to come. Like John the Baptist, the forerunner 
of Christ, the preachers laid the ax at the root of the tree, 
and urged all to bring forth fruit meet for repentance. 



A GREA T RELIGIO US A WAKENING. 369 

Their stirring' appeals were in marked contrast to the assur- 
ances of peace and safety that were heard from popular pul- 
pits; and wherever the message was given, it moved the 
people. The simple, direct testimony of the Scriptures, set 
home by the power of the Holy Spirit, brought a weight of 
conviction which few were able wholly to resist. Professors 
of religion were roused from their false security. They saw 
their backslidings, their worldliness and unbelief, their pride 
and selfishness. Many sought the Lord with repentance and 
humiliation. The affections that had so long clung to 
earthly things they now fixed upon Heaven. The Spirit of 
God rested upon them, and with hearts softened and sub- 
dued they joined to sound the cry, "Fear God, and give 
glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come." 

Sinners inquired with weeping, " What must I do to be 
saved?" Those whose lives had been marked with dishon- 
esty were anxious to make restitution. All who found peace 
in Christ longed to see others share the blessing. The hearts 
of parents were turned to their children, and the hearts of 
children to their parents. The barriers of pride and reserve 
were swept away. Heart-felt confessions were made, and 
the members of the household labored for the salvation of 
those who were nearest and dearest. Often was heard the 
sound of earnest intercession. Everywhere were souls in deep 
anguish, pleading with God. Many wrestled all night in 
prayer for the assurance that their own sins were pardoned, 
or for the conversion of their relatives or neighbors. 

All classes flocked to the Adventist meetings. Rich and 
poor, high and low, were, from various causes, anxious to 
hear for themselves the doctrine of the second advent. The 
Lord held the spirit of opposition in check while his servants 
explained the reasons of their faith. Sometimes the instru- 
ment was feeble; but the Spirit of God gave power to his 
truth. The presence of holy angels was felt in these assem- 
blies, and many were daily added to the believers. As the 
evidences of Christ's soon coming were repeated, vast crowds 



370 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

listened in breathless silence to the solemn words. Heaven 
and earth seemed to approach each other. The power of 
God was felt upon old and young and middle-aged. Men 
sought their homes with praises upon their lips, and the glad 
sound rang out upon the still night air. None who attended 
those meetings can ever forget those scenes of deepest interest. 

The proclamation of a definite time for Christ's coming 
called forth great opposition from many of all classes, from 
the minister in the pulpit down to the most reckless, Heaven- 
daring sinner. The words of prophecy were fulfilled : " There 
shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their 
own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? 
for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they 
were from the beginning of the creation." l Many who pro- 
fessed to love the Saviour, declared that they had no oppo- 
sition to the doctrine of the second advent; they merely 
objected to the definite time. But God's all-seeing eye read 
their hearts. They did not wish to hear of Christ's coming 
to judge the world in righteousness. They had been unfaith- 
ful servants, their works would not bear the inspection of the 
heart-searching God, and they feared to meet their Lord. 
Like the Jews at the time of Christ's first advent, they were 
not prepared to welcome Jesus. They not only refused to 
listen to the plain arguments from the Bible, but ridiculed 
those who were looking for the Lord. Satan and his angels 
exulted, and flung the taunt in the face of Christ and holy 
angels, that his professed people had so little love for him 
that they did not desire his appearing. 

"No man knoweth the day nor the hour," was the argu- 
ment most often brought forward by rejecters of the Advent 
faith. The scripture is, " Of that day and hour knoweth no 
man, no, not the angels of Heaven, but my Father only." 2 A 
clear and harmonious explanation of this text was given by 
those who were looking for the Lord, and the wrong use 
made of it by their opponents was clearly shown. The 

1 2 Peter 3 : 3, 4. 2 Matt . 24 : 36. 



A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 371 

words were spoken by Christ in that memorable conversa- 
tion with his disciples upon Olivet, after he had for the last 
time departed from the temple. The disciples had asked 
the question, " What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of 
the end of the world?" 1 Jesus gave them signs, and said, 
" When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, 
even at the doors." x One saying of the Saviour must not 
be made to destroy another. Though no man knoweth the 
day nor the hour of his coming, we are instructed and 
required to know when it is near. We are further taught 
that to disregard his warning, and refuse or neglect to know 
when his advent is near, will be as fatal for us, as it was for 
those who lived in the clays of Noah not to know when the 
flood was coming. And the parable in the same chapter 
contrasting the faithful and the unfaithful servant, and 
giving the doom of him who said in his heart, "My Lord 
delayeth his coming," shows in what light Christ will regard 
and reward those whom he finds watching, and teaching his 
coming, and those denying it. "Watch therefore," he says; 
"blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh 
shall find so doing." 1 " If therefore thou shalt not watch, I 
will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what 
hour I will come upon thee." 2 

Paul speaks of a class to whom the Lord's appearing will 
come unawares. " The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief 
in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; 
then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and 
they shall not escape." But he adds, to those who have 
given heed to the Saviour's warning, " Ye, brethren, are 
not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a 
thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of 
the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness." 3 

Thus it was shown that Scripture gives no warrant for 
men to remain in ignorance concerning the nearness of 
Christ's coming. But those who desired only an excuse to 

J Matt. 24 : 3, 33, 42-51. * Rev. 3:3. 3 1 Thess. 5 : 2-5. 



372 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

reject the truth closed their ears to this explanation ; and 
the words, "No man knoweth the day nor the hour," con- 
tinued to be echoed by the bold scoffer, and even by the 
professed minister of Christ. As the people were roused, 
and began to inquire the way of salvation, religious teachers 
stepped in between them and the truth, seeking to quiet 
their fears by falsely interpreting the Word of God. Un- 
faithful watchmen united in the work of the great deceiver, 
crying, Peace, peace, when God had not spoken peace. Like 
the Pharisees in Christ's day, many refused to enter the 
kingdom of Heaven themselves, and those who were enter- 
ing in, they hindered. The blood of these souls will be 
required at their hand. 

The most humble and devoted in the churches were 
usually the first to receive the message. Those who studied 
the Bible for themselves could not but see the unscriptural 
character of the popular views of prophecy, and wherever 
the people were not controlled by the influence of the clergy, 
wherever they would search the Word of God for themselves, 
the Advent doctrine needed only to be compared with the 
Scriptures to establish its divine authority. 

Many were persecuted by their unbelieving brethren. In 
order to retain their position in the church, some consented 
to be silent in regard to their hope; but others felt that 
loyalty to God forbade them thus to hide the truths which 
he had committed to their trust. Not a few were cut off 
from the fellowship of the church for no other reason than 
expressing their belief in the coming of Christ. Very pre- 
cious to those who bore this trial of their faith were the 
words of the prophet, "Your brethren that hated you, that 
cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be 
glorified. But he shall appear to your joy, and they shall 
be ashamed." l 

Angels of God were watching with the deepest interest 
the result of the warning. When there was a general 
rejection of the message by the churches, angels turned 

1 Isa. 66 : 5. 



A CUE A T RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 373 

away in sadness. Yet there were many who had not yet 
been tested in regard to the Advent truth. Many were 
misled by husbands, wives, parents, or children, and were 
made to believe it a sin even to listen to such heresies as 
were taught by the Adventists. Angels were bidden to keep 
faithful watch over these souls; for another light was yet to 
shine upon them from the throne of God. 

With unspeakable desire those who had received the 
message watched for the coming of their Saviour. The 
time when they expected to meet him was at hand. They 
approached this hour with a calm solemnity. They rested 
in sweet communion with God, an earnest of the peace that 
was to be theirs in the bright hereafter. None who experi- 
enced this hope and trust can forget those precious hours of 
waiting. For some weeks preceding the time, worldly bus- 
iness was for the most part laid aside. The sincere believers 
carefully examined every thought and emotion of their 
hearts as if upon their death-beds and in a few hours to close 
their eyes upon earthly scenes. There was no making of 
" ascension robes ; " 1 but all felt the need of internal evidence 
that they were prepared to meet the Saviour; their white 
robes were purity of soul, — characters cleansed from sin by 
the atoning blood of Christ. Would that there was still 
with the professed people of God the same spirit of heart- 
searching, the same earnest, determined faith. Had they 
continued thus to humble themselves before the Lord, and 
press their petitions at the mercy -seat, they would be in 
possession of a far richer experience than they now have. 
There is too little prayer, too little real conviction of sin, 
and the lack of living faith leaves many destitute of the 
grace so richly provided by our Redeemer. 

God designed to prove his people. His hand covered a 
mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods. 2 Advent- 
ists did not discover the error, nor was it discovered by the 

1 See Appendix, Note 4. 

2 See diagram opposite p. 328; also Appendix, Note 3. 



374 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

most learned of their opponents. The latter said: "Your 
reckoning of the prophetic periods is correct. Some great 
event is about to take place; but it is not what Mr. Miller 
predicts ; it is the conversion of the world, and not the sec- 
ond advent of Christ." 1 

The time of expectation passed, and Christ did not appear 
for the deliverance of his people. Those who with sincere 
faith and love had looked for their Saviour, experienced a 
bitter disappointment. Yet the purposes of God were being 
accomplished : he was testing the hearts of those who pro- 
fessed to be waiting for his appearing. There were among 
them many who had been actuated by no higher motive 
than fear. Their profession of faith had not affected their 
hearts or their lives. 'When the expected event failed- to 
take place, these persons declared that they were not dis- 
appointed; they had never believed that Christ would come. 
They were among the first to ridicule the sorrow of the true 
believers. 

But Jesus and all the heavenly host looked with love and 
sympathy upon the tried and faithful yet disapi3ointed ones. 
Could the veil separating the visible from the invisible 
world have been swept back, angels would have been seen 
drawing near to these steadfast souls, and shielding them 
from the shafts of Satan. 

1 See Appendix, Note 5. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



A WARNING REJECTED. 

In preaching the doctrine of the second advent, William 
Miller and his associates had labored with the sole purpose 
of arousing men to a preparation for the Judgment. They 
had sought to awaken professors of religion to the true hope 
of the church, and to their need of a deeper Christian expe- 
rience; and they labored also to awaken the unconverted to 
the duty of immediate repentance and conversion to God. 
" They made no attempt to convert men to a sect or party 
in religion. Hence they labored among all parties and 
sects, without interfering with their organization or dis- 
cipline." 

" In all my labors," said Miller, " I never had the desire 
or thought to establish any separate interest from that of 
existing denominations, or to benefit one at the expense of 
another. I thought to benefit all. Supposing that all Chris- 
tians would rejoice in the prospect of Christ's coming, and 
that those who could not see as I did would not love any 
the less those who should embrace this doctrine, I did not 
conceive there would ever be any necessity for separate 
meetings. My whole object was a desire to convert souls to 
God, to notify the world of a coming Judgment, and to 
induce my fellow-men to make that preparation of heart 
which will enable them to meet their God in peace. The 
great majority of those who were converted under my labors 
united with the various existing churches." 

As his work tended to build up the churches, it was for a 
time regarded with favor. But as ministers and religious 
leaders decided against the Advent doctrine, and desired to 

(375) 



376 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

suppress all agitation of the subject, they not only opposed 
it from the pulpit, but denied their members the privilege 
of attending preaching upon the second advent, or even of 
speaking of their hope in the social meetings of the church. 
Thus the believers found themselves in a position of great 
trial and perplexity. They loved their churches, and were 
loth to separate from them ; but as they saw the testimony 
of God's Word suppressed, and their right to investigate the 
prophecies denied, they felt that loyalty to God forbade 
them to submit. Those who sought to shut out the testi- 
mony of God's Word they could not regard as constituting 
the church of Christ, "the pillar and ground of the truth." 
Hence they felt themselves justified in separating from their 
former connection. In the summer of 1844 about fifty 
thousand withdrew from the churches. 

About this time a marked change was apparent in most 
of the churches throughout the United States. There had 
been for many years a gradual but steadily increasing con- 
formity to worldly practices and customs, and a correspond- 
ing decline in real spiritual life; but in that year there were 
evidences of a sudden and marked declension, in nearly all 
the churches of the land. While none seemed able to suggest 
the cause, the fact itself was widely noted and commented 
upon, both by the press and the pulpit. 

At a meeting of the presbytery of Philadelphia, Mr. 
Barnes, author of the commentary so widely used, and pas- 
tor of one of the leading churches in that city, " stated that 
he had been in the ministry for twenty years, and never 
till the last communion had he administered the ordinance 
without receiving more or less into the church. But now 
there are no awakenings, no conversions, not much apparent 
growth in grace in professors, and none come to his study 
to com^erse about the salvation of their souls. With the 
increase of business, and the brightening prospects of com- 
merce and manufactures, there is an increase of worldly- 
mindedness. Thus it is with all denominations." 



A WARNING REJECTED. 377 

In the month of February of the same year, Professor 
Finney, of Oberlin College, said: "We have had the facts 
before our minds, that, in general, the Protestant churches 
of our country, as such, were either apathetic or hostile to 
nearly all the moral reforms of the age. There are par- 
tial exceptions, yet not enough to render the fact otherwise 
than general We have also another corroborative fact, — 
the almost universal absence of revh T al influence in the 
churches. The spiritual apathy is almost all-pervading, and 
is fearfully deep; so the religious press of the whole land 
testifies. Very extensively, church-members are becoming 
devotees of fashion, joining hands with the ungodly in par- 
ties of pleasure, in dancing, in festivities, etc. But we need 
not expand this painful subject. Suffice it that the evidence 
thickens and rolls heavily upon us, to show that the churches 
generally are becoming sadly degenerate. They have gone 
very far from the Lord, and he has withdrawn himself from 
them." 

And a writer in the Religious Telescope testified: " We have 
never witnessed such a general declension a^ at present. 
Truly, the church should awake, and search into the cause 
of this affliction ; for an affliction every one that loves Zion 
must view it. When we call to mind how few and far 
between cases of true conversion are, and the almost unpar- 
alleled impenitence and hardness of sinners, we almost 
involuntarily exclaim, 'Has God forgotten to be gracious? 
or is the door of mercy closed?'" 

Such a condition never exists without cause in the church 
itself. The spiritual darkness which falls upon nations, 
upon churches and individuals, is due, not to an arbitrary 
withdrawal of the succors of divine grace on the part of 
God, but to neglect or rejection of divine light on the part of 
men. A striking illustration of this truth is presented in 
the history of the Jewish people in the time of Christ. By 
their devotion to the world and forgetfulness of God and 
his Word, their understanding had become darkened, their 

28 



378 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

hearts earthly and sensual. Thus they were in ignorance 
concerning Messiah's advent, and in their pride and unbelief 
they rejected the Redeemer. God did not even then cut off 
the Jewish nation from a knowledge of, or a participation 
in, the blessings of salvation. But those who rejected the 
truth lost all desire for the gift of Heaven. They had " put 
darkness for light, and light for darkness," until the light 
which was in them became darkness; and how great was 
that darkness! 

It suits the policy of Satan, that men should retain the 
forms of religion, if but the spirit of vital godliness is lack- 
ing. After their rejection of the gospel, the Jews continued 
zealously to maintain their ancient rites, they rigorously 
preserved their national exclusiveness, while they them- 
selves could not but admit that the presence of God was 
no longer manifest among them. The prophecy of Daniel 
pointed so unmistakably to the time of Messiah's coming, 
and so directly foretold his death, that they discouraged its 
study, and finally the rabbis pronounced a curse on all who 
should attempt a computation of the time. In blindness 
and impenitence, the people of Israel for eighteen hundred 
years have stood, indifferent to the gracious offers of salva- 
tion, unmindful of the blessings of the gospel, a solemn 
and fearful warning of the danger of rejecting light from 
Heaven. 

Wherever the cause exists, the same results will follow. 
He who deliberately stifles his convictions of duty because 
it interferes with his inclinations, will finally lose the power 
to distinguish between truth and error. The understanding 
becomes darkened, the conscience callous, the heart hard- 
ened, and the soul is separated from God. Where the mes- 
sage of divine truth is spurned or slighted, there the church 
will be enshrouded in darkness; faith and love grow cold, 
and estrangement and dissension enter. Church-members 
center their interests and energies in worldly pursuits, and 
sinners become hardened in their impenitence. 



A WARNING REJECTED. 379 

The first angel's message of Revelation 14, announcing 
the hour of God's Judgment, and calling upon jnen to fear 
and worship him, was designed to separate the professed 
people of God from the corrupting influences of the world, 
and to arouse them to see their true condition of worldli- 
ness and backsliding. In this message, God had sent to the 
church a warning, which, had it been accepted, would have 
corrected the evils that were shutting them away from him. 
Had they received the message from Heaven, humbling 
their hearts before the Lord, and seeking in sincerity a prep- 
aration to stand in his presence, the Spirit and power of God 
would have been manifested among them. The church 
would again have reached that blessed state of unity, faith, 
and love, which existed in apostolic days, when the believers 
were of " one heart and of one soul," and " spake the word of 
God with boldness," when "the Lord added to the church 
daily such as should be saved." 1 

If God's professed people would receive the light as it 
shines upon them from his Word, they would reach that 
unity for which Christ prayed, that which the apostle de- 
scribes, "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." 
"There is," he says, "one body, and one Spirit, even as ye 
are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, 
one baptism." 2 

Such were the blessed results experienced by those who ac- 
cepted the Advent message. They " came from different de- 
nominations, and their denominational barriers were hurled 
to the ground; conflicting creeds were shivered to atoms; 
the unscriptural hope of a temporal millennium was aban- 
doned, false views of the second advent were corrected, pride 
and conformity to the world were swept away ; wrongs were 
made right; hearts were united in the sweetest fellowship, 
and love and joy reigned supreme. If this doctrine did 
this for the few who did receive it. it would have done the 
same for all, if all had received it." 

1 Acts 4 : 32, 31 ; 2 : 47 . * Eph. 4 : 3-5. 



380 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

But the churches generally did not accept the warning. 
Their ministers, who as " watchmen unto the house of Israel," 
should have been the first to discern the tokens of Jesus' 
coming, had failed to learn the truth, either from the testi- 
mony of the prophets or from the signs of the times. As 
worldly hopes and ambitions filled the heart, love for God 
and faith in his Word had grown cold, and when the Advent 
doctrine was presented, it only aroused their prejudice and 
unbelief. The fact that the message was, to a great extent, 
preached by laymen, was urged as an argument against it. 
As of old, the plain testimony of God's Word was met with 
the inquiry, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees 
believed ?" And finding how difficult a task it was to refute 
the arguments drawn from the prophetic periods, many dis- 
couraged the study of the prophecies, teaching that the 
prophetic books were sealed, and were not to be understood. 
Multitudes, trusting implicitly to their pastors, refused to 
listen to the warning; and others, though convinced of the 
truth, dared not confess it, lest they should be " put out of 
the synagogue." The message which God had sent for the 
testing and purification of the church, revealed all too surely 
how great was the number who had set .their affections on 
this world rather than upon Christ. The ties which bound 
them to earth were stronger than the attractions heaven- 
ward. They chose to listen to the voice of worldly wisdom, 
and turned away from the heart-searching message of truth. 

In refusing the warning of the first angel, they rejected 
the means which Heaven had provided for their restoration. 
They spurned the gracious messenger that would have cor- 
rected the evils which separated them from God, and with 
greater eagerness they turned to seek the friendship of the 
world. Here was the cause of that fearful condition of 
worldliness, backsliding, and spiritual death which existed in 
the churches in 1844. 

In Revelation 14, the first angel is followed by a second, 
proclaiming, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, 



A WARNING REJECTED. 381 

because she made all nations drink of the wine of the 
wrath of her fornication." 1 The term Babylon is derived 
from Babel, and signifies confusion. It is employed in 
Scripture to designate the various forms of false or apostate 
religion. In Revelation 17, Babylon is represented as a 
woman, a figure which is used in the Bible as the symbol of 
a church, a virtuous woman representing a pure church, a 
vile woman an apostate church. 

In the Bible the sacred and enduring character of the 
relation that exists between Christ and his church is repre- 
sented by the union of marriage. The Lord has joined his 
people to himself by a solemn covenant, he promising to be 
their God, and they pledging themselves to be his, and his 
alone. He declares, " I will betroth thee unto me forever ; 
yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in 
judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies." 2 And 
again, " I am married unto you." 3 And Paul employs the 
same figure in the New Testament, when he says, " I have 
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a 
chaste virgin to Christ." i 

The unfaithfulness of the church to Christ in permitting 
her confidence and affection to be turned from him, and 
allowing the love of worldly things to occupy the soul, is 
likened to the violation of the marriage vow. The sin of 
Israel in departing from the Lord is presented under this 
figure; and the wonderful love of God which they thus 
despised is touchingly portrayed. " I sware unto thee, and 
entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and 
thou becamest mine." "And thou wast exceeding beautiful, 
and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown 
went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was 
perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee. 
. . . But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and play- 
edst the harlot because of thy renown." "As a wife treach- 
erously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treach- 

1 Rev. 14:8. 2 Hos. 2:19. 3 Jer. 3:14. 4 2 Cor. 11:2. 



382 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

erously with me, house of Israel, saith the Lord;" "as a 
wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead 
of her husband." 1 

In the New Testament, language very similar is addressed 
to professed Christians who seek the friendship of the world 
above the favor of God. Says the apostle James : " Ye adul- 
terers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of 
the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be 
a friend of the world is the enemy of God." 

The woman, Babylon, of Revelation 17, is described as 
" arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold 
and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her 
hand full of abominations and filthiness. . . . And upon 
her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the 
Great, the mother of harlots." Says the prophet, "I saw 
the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with 
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." a Babylon is further 
declared to be " that great city, which reigneth over the 
kings of the earth." 3 The power that for so many cent- 
uries maintained despotic sway over the monarchs of Chris- 
tendom, is Rome. The purple and scarlet color, the gold 
and precious stones and pearls, vividly picture the mag- 
nificence and more than kingly pomp' affected by the 
haughty see of Rome. And no other power could be so 
truly declared " drunken with the blood of the saints " as 
that church which has so cruelly persecuted the followers of 
Christ. Babylon is also charged with the sin of unlawful 
connection with "the kings of the earth." It was by depart- 
ure from the Lord, and alliance with the heathen, that the 
Jewish church became a harlot ; and Rome, corrupting her- 
self in like manner by seeking the support of worldly powers, 
receives a like condemnation. 

Babylon is said to be "the mother of harlots." By her 
daughters must be symbolized churches that cling to her doc- 
trines and traditions, and follow her example of sacrificing 

1 Eze. 16 : 8, 13-15, 32; Jer. 3 : 20. 2 Rev. 17 : 4-6. 3 Eev. 17 : 18. 



.1 WARNING REJECTED. 383 



the truth and the approval of God, in order to form an 
unlawful alliance with the world. The message of Revela- 
tion 14 announcing the fall of Babylon, must apply to relig- 
ious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt. 
Since this message follows the warning of the Judgment, it 
must be given in the last days, therefore it cannot refer to 
the Romish Church, for that church has been in a fallen 
condition for many centuries. Furthermore, in the eight- 
eenth chapter of the Revelation, in a message which is yet 
future, the people of God are called upon to come out of 
Babylon. According to this scripture, many of God's people 
must still be in Babylon. And in what religious bodies are 
the greater part of the followers of Christ now to be found? 
Without doubt, in the various churches professing the Prot- 
estant faith. At the time of their rise, these churches took 
a noble stand for God and the truth, and his blessing was 
with them. Even the unbelieving world was constrained 
to acknowledge the beneficent results that followed an 
acceptance of the principles of the gospel. In the words 
of the prophet to Israel, "Thy renown went forth among 
the heathen for thy beauty; for it was perfect through my 
comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." 
But they fell by the same desire which was the curse and 
ruin of Israel, — the desire of imitating the practices and 
courting the friendship of the ungodly. " Thou didst trust 
in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy 
renown." 

Many of the Protestant churches are following Rome's 
example of iniquitous connection with "the kings of the 
earth ; " the State churches, by their relation to secular gov- 
ernments, and other denominations by seeking the favor of 
the world. And the term Babylon — confusion — may be 
appropriately applied to these bodies, all professing to derive 
their doctrines from the Bible, yet divided into almost innu- 
merable sects, with widely conflicting creeds and theories. 

Besides a sinful union with the world, the churches that 
separated from Rome present other of her characteristics. 



384 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

A Romish work — the " Catholic Christian Instructed " — 
makes the charge: "If the Church of Rome was ever guilty 
of idolatry in relation to the saints, her daughter, the 
Church of England, stands guilty of the same, which has ten 
churches dedicated to Mary for one dedicated to Christ." 

And Mr. Hopkins, in a treatise on the Millennium, 
declares : " There is no reason to consider the antichristian 
spirit and practices confined to what is now called the 
Church of Rome. The Protestant churches have much of 
antichrist in them, and are far from being wholly reformed 
from corruption and wickedness." 

Concerning the separation of the Presbyterian Church 
from Rome, Dr. Guthrie writes: "Three hundred years ago, 
our church, with an open Bible on her banner, and this 
motto, 'Search the Scriptures,' on her scroll, marched out 
from the gates of Rome." Then he asks the significant 
question, "Did they come clean out of Babylon?" 

"The Church of England," says Spurgeon, "seems to be 
eaten through and through with sacramentarianism ; but 
non-conformity appears to be almost as badly riddled with 
philosophical infidelity. Those of whom we thought better 
things are turning aside one by one from the fundamentals 
of the faith. Through and through, I believe, the very 
heart of England is honeycombed with a damnable infidel- 
ity which dares still go into the pulpit and call itself 
Christian." 

What was the origin of the great apostasy? How did the 
church first depart from the simplicity of the gospel? — By 
conforming to the practices of paganism, to facilitate the 
acceptance of Christianity by the heathen. The apostle 
Paul declared, even in his day, "The mystery of iniquity 
doth already work." l During the lives of the apostles the 
church remained comparatively pure. "But toward the 
latter end of the second century most of the churches 
assumed a new form, the first simplicity disappeared; and 
insensibly, as the old disciples retired to their graves, their 

^Thess. 2:7. 



A WARNING REJECTED. 385 



children, along with new converts . . . came forward 
and new-modeled the cause." l To secure converts, the 
exalted standard of the Christian faith was lowered, and as 
the result " a pagan flood, flowing into the church, carried 
with it its customs, practices, and idols." 2 As the Christian 
religion secured the favor and support of secular rulers, 
it was nominally accepted by multitudes ; but while in ap- 
pearance Christians, many " remained in substance pagans, 
especially worshiping in secret their idols." 2 

Has not the same process been repeated in nearly every 
church calling itself Protestant? As its founders, those who 
possessed the true spirit of reform, pass away, their descend- 
ants come forward and "new model the cause." While 
blindly clinging to the creed of their fathers and refusing to 
accept any truth in advance of what they saw, the children 
of the reformers depart widely from their example of humil- 
ity, self-denial, and renunciation of the world. Thus "the 
first simplicity disappears." A worldly flood, flowing into 
the church, " carries with it its customs, practices, and idols." 

Alas, to what a fearful extent is that friendship of the 
world which is " enmity with God," now cherished among 
the professed followers of Christ! How widely have the 
popular churches throughout Christendom departed from 
the Bible standard of humility, self-denial, simplicity, and 
godliness ! Said John Wesley, in speaking of the right use of 
money: " Do not waste any part of so precious a talent, merely 
in gratifying the desire of the eye, by superfluous and expen- 
sive apparel, or by needless ornaments. Waste no part of it in 
curiously adorning your houses; in superfluous or expensive 
furniture; in costly pictures, painting, gilding." "Lay out 
nothing to gratify the pride of life, to gain the admiration 
or praise of men." " ' So long as thou doest well unto thy- 
self, men will speak good of thee.' So long as thou art 
' clothed in purple and fine linen, and farest sumptuously 
every day,' no doubt many will applaud thine elegance of 

1 Robinson, in History of Baptism. 2 C!avazzi's Lectures, p. 290. 



386 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

taste, thy generosity and hospitality. But do not buy their 
applause so . dear. Rather be content with the honor that 
cometh from God." But in many churches of our time, such 
teaching is disregarded. 

A profession of religion has become popular with the 
world. Rulers, politicians, lawyers, doctors, merchants, join 
the church as a means of securing the respect and confidence 
of society, and advancing their own worldly interests. Thus 
they seek to cover all their unrighteous transactions under 
a profession of Christianity. The various religious bodies, 
re-enforced by the wealth and influence of these baptized 
worldlings, make a still higher bid for popularity and patron- 
age. Splendid churches, embellished in the most extrav- 
agant manner, are erected on popular avenues. The wor- 
shipers array themselves in costly and fashionable attire. A 
high salary is paid for a talented minister to entertain and 
attract the people. His sermons must not touch popular 
sins, but be made smooth and pleasing for fashionable ears. 
Thus fashionable sinners are enrolled on the church-records, 
and fashionable sins are concealed under a pretense of god- 
liness. 

Commenting on the present attitude of professed Chris- 
tians toward the world, a leading secular journal says: "In- 
sensibly the church has yielded to the spirit of the age, and 
adapted its forms of worship to modern wants." "All things, 
indeed, that help to make religion attractive, the church now 
employs as its instruments." And a writer in the New York 
Independent speaks thus concerning Methodism as it is: "The 
line of separation between the godly and the irreligious 
fades out into a kind of penumbra, and zealous men on both 
sides are toiling to obliterate all difference between their 
modes of action and enjoyment." " The popularity of relig- 
ion tends vastly to increase the number of those who would 
secure its benefits without squarely meeting its duties." 

Says Howard Crosby: "The church of God is to-day 
courting the world. Its members are trying to bring it 



A WARNING REJECTED. 387 

down to the level of the ungodly. The ball, the theater, 
nude and lewd art, social luxuries with all their loose mo- 
ralities, are making inroads into the sacred inclosure of the 
church ; and as a satisfaction for all this worldliness, Chris- 
tians are making a great deal of Lent and Easter and church 
ornamentation. It is the old trick of Satan. The Jewish 
church struck on that rock; the Romish church was wrecked 
on the same ; and the Protestant is fast reaching the same 
doom." 

In this tide of worldliness and pleasure-seeking, self-denial 
and self-sacrifice for Christ's sake are almost wholly lost. 
"Some of the men and women now in active life in our 
churches were educated, when children, to make sacrifices 
in order to be able to give or to do something for Christ," 
But " if funds are wanted now, . . . nobody must be 
called on to give. Oh, no! have a fair, tableaux, a mock 
trial, an antiquarian supper, or something to eat, anything 
to amuse the people." 

Governor Washburn, of Wisconsin, in his annual message 
declared " that church fairs, charitable raffles, concert lotter- 
ies for charitable and other purposes, prize packages, ' grab- 
bags,' Sabbath-school and other religious chances by ticket, 
are nurseries of crime, inasmuch as they promise something 
for nothing, are games of chance, and are really gambling. 
He says that the pernicious spirit of gambling is fostered, 
encouraged, and kept alive by these agencies to a degree 
little known by good citizens; and that, but for them, the 
ordinary laws against gambling would be much less violated 
and much more easily enforced. These practices, he de- 
clares, ought not to be permitted any longer to debauch the 
morals of the young." 

The spirit of worldly conformity is invading the churches 
throughout Christendom. Robert Atkins, in a sermon 
preached in London, draws a dark picture of the spiritual 
declension that prevails in England : " The truly righteous 
are diminished from the earth, and no man layeth it to 



388 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



heart. The professors of religion of the present day, in 
every church, are lovers of the world, conformers to the 
world, lovers of creature-comfort, and aspirers after respect- 
ability. They are called to suffer with Christ, but they 
shrink from even reproach. Apostasy, apostasy, apostasy, is 
engraven on the very front of every church , and did they 
know it, and did they feel it, there might be hope ; but, alas ! 
they cry, 'We are rich, and increased in goods, and have 
need of nothing.'" 

The great sin charged against Babylon is, that she "made 
all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." 
This cup of intoxication which she presents to the world, 
represents the false doctrines that she has accepted as the 
result of her unlawful connection with the great ones of the 
earth. Friendship with the world corrupts her faith, and 
in her turn she exerts a corrupting influence upon the world 
by teaching doctrines which are opposed to the plainest 
statements of Holy Writ. 

Rome withheld the Bible from the people, and required 
all men to accept her teachings in its place. It was the 
work of the Reformation to restore to men the Word of God; 
but is it not too true that in the churches of our time men 
are taught to rest their faith upon their creed and the teach- 
ings of their church rather than on the Scriptures? Said 
Charles Beecher, speaking of the Protestant churches: " They 
shrink from any rude word against creeds with the same 
sensitiveness with which those holy fathers would have 
shrunk from a rude word against the rising veneration for 
saints and martyrs which they were fostering. . . . The 
Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one 
another's hands, and their own, that, between them all, a 
man cannot become a preacher at all, anywhere, without ac- 
cepting some book besides the Bible. . . There is noth- 
ing imaginary in the statement that the creed power is now 
beginning to prohibit the Bible as really as Rome did, 
though in a subtler way." 



A WARNING REJECTED. 389 

When faithful teachers expound the Word of God, there 
arise men of learning, ministers professing to understand the 
Scriptures, who denounce sound doctrine as heresy, and thus 
turn away inquirers after truth. Were it not that the world 
is hopelessly intoxicated with the wine of Babylon, multi- 
tudes would be convicted and converted by the plain, cut- 
ting truths of the Word of God. But religious faith appears 
so confused and discordant, that the people know not what 
to believe as truth. The sin of the world's impenitence lies 
at the door of the church. 

The second angel's message of Revelation 14, was first 
preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a more 
direct application to the churches of the United States, where 
the warning of the Judgment had been most widely pro- 
claimed and most generally rejected, and where the declen- 
sion in the churches had been most rapid. But the message 
of the second angel did not reach its complete fulfillment in 
1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall, in con- 
sequence of their refusal of the light of the Advent message; 
but that fall was not complete. As they have continued to 
reject the special truths for this time, they have fallen lower 
and lower. Not yet, however, can it be said that " Babylon 
is fallen, . . . because she made all nations drink of the 
wine of the wrath of her fornication." She has not yet 
made all nations do this. The spirit of world -conforming 
and indifference to the testing truths for our time exists and 
has been gaining ground in churches of the Protestant faith 
in all the countries of Christendom; and these churches are 
included in the solemn and terrible denunciation of the sec- 
ond angel. But the work of apostasy has not yet reached 
its culmination. 

The Bible declares that before the coming of the Lord, 
Satan will work "with all power and signs and lying wonders, 
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness ;" and they 
that " received not the love of the truth, that they might be 
saved," will be left to receive "strong delusion, that they 



390 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

should believe a lie." 1 Not until this condition shall be 
reached, and the union of the church with the world shall 
be fully accomplished, throughout Christendom, will the fall 
of Babylon be complete. The change is a progressive one, 
and the perfect fulfillment of Rev. 14:8 is yet future. 

Notwithstanding the spiritual darkness, and alienation 
from God, that exist in the churches which constitute Baby- 
lon, the great body of Christ's true followers are still to be 
found in their communion. There are many of these who 
have never seen the special truths for this time. Not a few 
are dissatisfied with their present condition, and are longing 
for clearer light. They look in vain for the image of Christ 
in the churches with which they are connected. As these 
bodies depart farther and' farther from the truth, and ally 
themselves more closely with the world, the difference 
between the two classes will widen, and it will finally result 
in separation. The time will come when those who love God 
supremely can no longer remain in connection with such as 
are " lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ; having a 
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 

Revelation 18 points to the time when, as the result 
of rejecting the threefold warning of Rev. 14:6-12, the 
church will have fully reached the condition foretold by the 
second angel, and the people of God, still in Babylon, will 
be called upon to separate from her communion. This 
message is the last that will ever be given to the world; and 
it will accomplish its work. When those that " believed not 
the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness," 2 shall be 
left to receive strong delusion, and to believe a lie, then the 
light of truth will shine upon all whose hearts are open to 
receive it, and all the children of the Lord, that remain in 
Babylon, will heed the call, "Come out of her, my people." 3 

12 Thess. 2:9-11. 2 2Thess. 2 : 12. 3 Kev. 18:4. 



CHAPTER XXII 



PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 

When the time passed at which the Lord's coming was 
first expected, — in the spring of 1844, — those who had 
looked in faith for his appearing were for a season involved 
in doubt and uncertainty. While the world regarded them 
as having been utterly defeated, and proved to have been 
cherishing a delusion, their source of consolation was still 
the Word of God. Many continued to search the Scriptures, 
examining anew the evidences of their faith, and carefully 
studying the prophecies to obtain further light. The Bible 
testimony in support of their position seemed clear and con- 
clusive. Signs which could not be mistaken pointed to the 
coming of Christ as near. The special blessing of the Lord, 
both in the conversion of sinners and the revival of spiritual 
life among Christians, had testified that the message was of 
Heaven. And though the believers could not explain their 
disappointment, they felt assured that God had led them in 
their past experience. 

Interwoven with prophecies which they had regarded as 
applying to the time of the second advent, was instruction 
specially adapted to their state of uncertainty and suspense, 
and encouraging them to wait patiently, in the faith that 
what was now dark to their understanding would in due 
time be made plain. 

Among these prophecies was that of Hab. 2 : 1-4: "I will 
stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will 
watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall 
answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me, 
and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, 

(391) 



392 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for 
an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not 
lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, 
it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not 
upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." 

As early as 1842, the direction given in this prophecy, to 
"write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he 
may run that readeth it," had suggested to Charles Fitch 
the preparation of a prophetic chart to illustrate the visions 
of Daniel and the Eevelation. The publication of this 
chart was regarded as a fulfillment of the command given 
by Habakkuk. No one, however, then noticed that an 
apparent delay in the accomplishment of the vision — a 
tarrying time — is presented in the same prophecy. After 
the disappointment, this scripture appeared very signifi- 
cant: "The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at 
the end it shall speak, and not lie : though it tarry, wait for 
it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. . . . 
The just shall live by his faith" 

A portion of Ezekiel's prophecy also was a source of 
strength and comfort to believers: "And the word of the 
Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that prov- 
erb that ye have in the land of Israel, • say ing, The days 
are prolonged, and every vision faileth? Tell them there- 
fore, Thus saith the Lord God: . . . The days are at 
hand, and the effect of every vision. ... I will speak, and 
the word that I shall speak shall come to pass ; it shall be 
no more prolonged." " They of the house of Israel say, The 
vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he proph- 
esieth of the times that are far off. Therefore say unto 
them, Thus saith the Lord God: There shall none of my. 
words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have 
spoken shall be done." 1 

The waiting ones rejoiced, believing that He who knows 
the end from the beginning had looked down through the 
ages, and, foreseeing their disappointment, had given them 

1 Eze. 12 : 21-25, 27, 28. 



PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 393 

words of courage and hope. Had it not been for such por- 
tions of Scripture, admonishing them to wait with patience, 
and to hold fast their confidence in God's Word, their faith 
would have failed in that trying hour. 

The parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25, also illus- 
trates the experience of the Adventist people. In Matthew 
24, in answer to the question of his disciples concerning the 
sign of his coming and of the end of the world, Christ had 
pointed out some of the most important events in the his- 
tory of the world and of the church from his first to his 
second advent; namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, the 
great tribulation of the church under the pagan and papal 
persecutions, the darkening of the sun and moon, and the 
falling of the stars. After this he spoke of his coming in 
his kingdom, and related the parable describing the two 
classes of servants who look for his appearing. Chapter 25 
opens with the words, " Then shall the kingdom of Heaven 
be likened unto ten virgins." Here is brought to view the 
church living in the last days, the same that is pointed out 
in the close of chapter 24. In this parable their experience 
is illustrated by the incidents of an Eastern marriage. 

" Then shall the kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten 
virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the 
bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were 
foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took 
no oil with them ; but the wise took oil in their vessels with 
their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slum- 
bered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, 
Behold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet him." 

The coming of Christ, as announced by the first angel's 
message, was understood to be represented by the coming of 
the bridegroom, The widespread reformation under the 
proclamation of his soon coming, answered to the going 
forth of the virgins. In this parable, as in that of Matthew 
24, two classes are represented. All had taken their lamps, 
the Bible, and by its light had gone forth to meet the 

29 



394 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Bridegroom. But while "they that were foolish took their 
lamps, and took no oil with them/' "the wise took oil in 
their vessels with their lamps." The latter class had re- 
ceived the grace of God, the regenerating, enlightening 
power of the Holy Spirit, which renders his Word a lamp 
to the feet and a light to the path. In the fear of God they 
had studied the Scriptures to learn the truth, and had ear- 
nestly sought for purity of heart and life. These had a 
personal experience, a faith in God and in his Word, which 
could not be overthrown by disappointment and delay. 
Others "took their lamps, and took no oil with them." 
They had moved from impulse. Their fears had been 
excited by the solemn message, but they had depended upon 
the faith of their brethren, satisfied with the flickering light 
of good emotions, without a thorough understanding of the 
truth, or a genuine work of grace in the heart. These had 
gone forth to meet the Lord, full of hope in the prospect of 
immediate reward; but they were not prepared for delay 
and disappointment. When trials came, their faith failed, 
and their lights burned dim. 

"While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and 
slept." By the tarrying of the bridegroom is represented 
the passing of the time when the Lord was expected, the 
disappointment, and the seeming delay. In this time of 
uncertainty, the interest of the superficial and half-hearted 
soon began to waver, and their efforts to relax; but those 
whose faith was based on a personal knowledge of the Bible 
had a rock beneath their feet, which the waves of disap- 
pointment could not wash away. " They all slumbered and 
slept;" one class in unconcern and abandonment of their 
faith, the other class patiently waiting till clearer light 
should be given. Yet in the night of trial the latter seemed 
to lose, to some extent, their zeal and devotion. The half- 
hearted and superficial could no longer lean upon the faith 
of their brethren. Each must stand or fall for himself. 

About this time, fanaticism began to appear. Some who 



PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 395 

had professed to be zealous believers in the message, rejected 
the Word of God as the one infallible guide, and, claiming 
to be led by the Spirit, gave themselves up to the control of 
their own feelings, impressions, and imaginations. There 
were some who manifested a blind and bigoted zeal, de- 
nouncing all who would not sanction their course. Their 
fanatical ideas and exercises met with no sympathy from 
the great body of Aclventists; yet they served to bring 
reproach upon the cause of truth. 

Satan was seeking by this means to oppose and destroy 
the work of God. The people had been greatly stirred by 
the Advent movement, thousands of sinners had been con- 
verted, and faithful men were giving themseh^es to the work 
of proclaiming the truth, even in the tarrying time. The 
prince of evil was losing his subjects: and in order to bring 
reproach upon the cause of God, he sought to deceive some 
who professed the faith, and to drive them to extremes. 
Then his agents stood ready to seize upon every error, every 
failure, every unbecoming act, and hold it up before the 
people in the most exaggerated light, to render Adventists 
and their faith odious. Thus the greater the number whom 
lie could crowd in to make a profession of faith in the second 
advent while his power controlled their hearts, the greater 
advantage would he gain by calling attention to them as 
representatives of the whole body of believers. 

Satan is "the accuser of the brethren," and it is his spirit 
that inspires men to watch for the errors and defects of 
the Lord's people, and to hold them up to notice, while their 
good deeds are passed by without a mention. He is alwaj^s 
active when God is at work for the salvation of souls. When 
the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord, 
Satan comes also among them. In every revival he is ready 
to bring in those who are unsanctified in heart and unbal- 
anced in mind. When these have accepted some points of 
truth, and gained a place with believers, he works through 
them to introduce theories that will deceive the unwary. 



I 



396 THE. GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

No man is proved to be a true Christian because he is found 
in company with the children of God, even in the house of 
worship and around the table of the Lord. Satan is fre- 
quently there upon the most solemn occasions, in the form 
of those whom he can use as his agents. 

The prince of evil contests every inch of ground over 
which God's people advance in their journey toward the 
heavenly city. In all- the history of the church, no reforma- 
tion has been carried forward without encountering serious 
obstacles. Thus it was in Paul's day. Wherever the apostle 
raised up a church, there were some who professed to receive 
the faith, but who brought in heresies, that, if received,, 
would eventually crowd out the love of the truth. Luther 
also suffered great perplexity and distress from the course 
of fanatical persons who claimed that God had spoken 
directly through them, and who therefore set their own 
ideas and opinions above the testimony of the Script- 
ures. Many who were lacking in faith and experience, but 
who had considerable self-sufficiency, and who loved to 
hear and tell some new thing, were beguiled by the preten- 
sions of the new teachers, and they joined the agents of 
Satan in their work of tearing down what God had moved 
Luther to build up. And the Wesleys, and others who> 
blessed the world by their influence and their faith, encoun- 
tered at every step the wiles of Satan in pushing overzeal- 
ous, unbalanced, and unsanctified ones into fanaticism of 
every grade. 

William Miller had no sympathy with those influences; 
that led to fanaticism. He declared, with Luther, that 
every spirit should be tested by the Word of God. "Tho 
devil," said Miller, "has great power over the minds of some 
at the present day. And how shall we know what manner of 
spirit they are of? The Bible answers: 'By their fruits 
ye shall know them.' " " There are many spirits gone out 
into the world; and we are commanded to try the spirits. 
The spirit that does not cause us to live soberly, righteously, 



PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 397 

and godly, in this present world, is not the Spirit of Christ. 
1 am more and more convinced that Satan has much to do 
in these wild movements." "Many among us, who pre- 
tend to be wholly sanctified, are following the traditions 
of men, and apparently are as ignorant of truth as others 
who make no such pretensions." "The spirit of error will 
lead us from the truth; and the Spirit of God will lead 
us into truth. But, say you, a man may be in error, 
and think he has the truth. What then? We answer, The 
Spirit and Word agree. If a man judges himself by the 
Word of God, and finds a perfect harmony through the 
whole Word, then he must believe he has the truth; but if 
he finds the spirit by which he is led does not harmonize 
with the whole tenor of God's law or book, then let him 
walk carefully, lest he be caught in the snare of the devil." 
" I have often obtained more evidence of inward piety from 
a kindling eye, a wet cheek, and a choked utterance, than 
from all the noise in Christendom." 

In the days of the Reformation its enemies charged all 
the evils of fanaticism upon the very ones who were labor- 
ing most earnestly against it. A similar course was pursued 
by the opposers of the Advent movement. And not con- 
tent with misrepresenting and exaggerating the errors of 
extremists and fanatics, they circulated unfavorable reports 
that had not the slightest semblance of truth. These per- 
sons were actuated by prejudice and hatred. Their peace 
was disturbed by the proclamation of Christ at the door. 
They feared it might be true, yet hoped it was not, and this 
was the secret of their warfare against x-Vdventists and their 
faith. 

The fact that a few fanatics worked their way into the 
ranks of Adventists is no more a reason to decide that the 
movement was not of God, than was the presence of fanat- 
ics and deceivers in the church in Paul's or Luther's day 
a sufficient excuse for condemning their work. Let the 
people of God arouse out of sleep, and begin in earnest the 



398 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

work of repentance and reformation, let them search the 
Scriptures to learn the truth as it is in Jesus, let them make 
an entire consecration to God, and evidence will not be 
wanting that Satan is still active and vigilant.' With all 
possible deception he will manifest his power, calling to his 
aid all the fallen angels of his realm. 

It was not the proclamation of the second advent that 
created fanaticism and division. These appeared in the 
summer of 1844, when Adventists were in a state of doubt 
and perplexity concerning their real position. The preach- 
ing of the first angel's message and of the "midnight cry" 
tended directly to repress fanaticism and dissension. Those 
who participated in these solemn movements were in har- 
mony; their hearts were filled with love for one another, 
and for Jesus, whom they expected soon to see. The one 
faith, the one blessed hope, lifted them above the control of 
any human influence, and proved a shield against the 
assaults of Satan. 

"While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and 
slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the 
bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those 
virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps." 1 . In the summer 
of 1844, midway between the time when it had been first 
thought that the 2300 days would end, and the autumn of 
the same year, to which it was afterward found that they 
extended, the message was proclaimed, in the very words of 
Scripture, " Behold, the Bridegroom cometh ! " 

That which led to this movement was the discovery that 
the decree of Artaxerxes for the restoration of Jerusalem,, 
which formed the starting-point for the period of the 2300 
days, went into effect in the autumn of the year b. c. 457,, 
and not at the beginning of the year, as had been formerly 
believed. Reckoning from the autumn of 457, the 2300 
years terminate in the autumn of 1844. 2 

Arguments drawn from the Old-Testament types also 

1 Matt. 25 : 5-7. 2 See diagram, opposite p. 328; also Appendix, Note 3. 



PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 309 

pointed to the autumn as the time when the event repre- 
sented by the "cleansing of the sanctuary" must take 
place. This was made very clear as attention was given to 
the manner in which the types relating to the first advent 
of Christ had been fulfilled. 

The slaying of the passover lamb was a shadow of the 
deatli of Christ. Says Paul, "Christ our passover is sacri- 
ficed for us." 1 The sheaf of first-fruits, which at the time of 
the Passover was waved before the Lord, was typical of the 
resurrection of Christ. Paul says, in speaking of the resur- 
rection of the Lord, and of all his people, " Christ the first- 
fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." 2 
Like the wave-sheaf, which was the first ripe grain gathered 
before the harvest, Christ is the first-fruits of that immortal 
harvest of redeemed ones that at the future resurrection 
shall be gathered into the garner of God. 

These types were fulfilled, not only as to the event, but as 
to the time. On the fourteenth day of the first Jewish 
month, the very clay and month on which, for fifteen long 
centuries, the passover lamb had been slain, Christ, having 
eaten the passover with his disciples, instituted that feast 
which was to commemorate his own death as "the Lamb of 
God, which taketh away the sin of the world." That same 
night he was taken by wicked hands, to be crucified and 
slain. And as the antitype of the wave-sheaf, our Lord was 
raised from the dead on the third day, " the first-fruits of 
them that slept," 3 a sample of all the resurrected just, whose 
"vile body" shall be changed, and "fashioned like unto his 
glorious body." 4 

In like manner, the types which relate to the second 
advent must be fulfilled at the time pointed out in the 
symbolic service. Under the Mosaic system, the cleansing 
of the sanctuary, or the great day of atonement, occurred on 
the tenth clay of the seventh Jewish month, 5 when the high 
priest, having made an atonement for all Israel, and thus 

1 1 Cor. 5:7. 2 1 Cor. 15 : 23. s 1 Cor. 15 : 20. 

* Phil. 3:21. 5 Lev. 16 : 29-34. 



400 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



removed their sins from the sanctuary, came forth and 
blessed the people. So it was believed that Christ, our 
great High Priest, would appear to purify the earth by the 
destruction of sin and sinners, and to bless his waiting peo- 
ple with immortality. The tenth day of the seventh month, 
the great day of atonement, the time of the cleansing of the 
sanctuary, which in the year 1844 fell upon the 2 2d of 
October, was regarded as the time of the Lord's coming. 
This was in harmony with the proofs already presented that 
the 2300 days would terminate in the autumn, and the con- 
clusion seemed irresistible. 

In the parable of Matthew 25 the time of waiting and 
slumber is followed by the coming of the bridegroom. This 
was in accordance with the arguments just presented, both 
from prophecy and from the types. They carried strong 
conviction of their truthfulness; and the "midnight cry" 
was heralded by thousands of believers. 

Like a tidal wave the movement swept over the land. 
From city to city, from village to village, and into remote 
country places it went, until the waiting people of God were 
fully aroused. Fanaticism disappeared before this procla- 
mation, like early frost before the rising sun. Believers saw 
their doubt and perplexity removed, and hope and courage 
animated their hearts. The work was free from those ex- 
tremes which are ever manifested when there is human 
excitement without the controlling influence of the Word 
and Spirit of God. It was similar in character to those 
seasons of humiliation and returning unto the Lord which 
among ancient Israel followed messages of reproof from his 
servants. It bore the characteristics that mark the work 
of God in every age. There was little ecstatic joy, but rather 
deep searching of heart, confession of sin, and forsaking of 
the world. A preparation to meet the Lord was the burden 
of agonizing spirits. There was persevering prayer, and un- 
reserved consecration to God. 

Said Miller, in describing that wort: "There is no great 



PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 401 

expression of joy; that is, as it were, suppressed for a future 
occasion, when all Heaven and earth will rejoice together 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. There is no shout- 
ing; that, too, is reserved for the shout from Heaven. The 
singers are silent; they are waiting to join the angelic hosts, 
the choir from Heaven." "There is no clashing of senti- 
ments; all are of one heart and of one mind." Another who 
participated in the movement testified: "It has produced 
everywhere the most deep searching of heart and humilia- 
tion of soul. ... It caused a weaning of affections from 
the things of this world, a healing of controversies and 
animosities, a confession of wrongs, a breaking down before 
God, and penitent, broken-hearted supplications to him for 
pardon and acceptance. It caused self-abasement and pros- 
tration of soul, such as we never before witnessed. As the 
Lord commanded by the prophet Joel, when the great day 
of God should be at hand, it produced a rending of hearts 
and not of garments, and a turning unto the Lord with 
fasting, and weeping, and mourning. As God said by Zech- 
ariah, a spirit of grace and of supplication was poured out 
upon his children; they looked to Him whom they had 
pierced, there was great mourning in the land, . . . and 
those who were looking for the Lord afflicted their souls 
before him." 

Of all the great religious movements since the days of the 
apostles, none have been more free from human imperfec- 
tion and the wiles of Satan than was that of the autumn 
of 1844. Even now, after the lapse of nearly half a century, 
all who shared in that movement and who have stood firm 
upon the platform of truth, still feel the holy influence of 
that blessed work, and bear witness that it was of God. 

At the call, " The Bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet 
him," the waiting ones "arose and trimmed their lamps;" 
they studied the Word of God with an intensity of interest 
before unknown. Angels were sent from Heaven to arouse 
those who had become discouraged, and prepare them to 



402 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

receive the message. The work did not stand in the wis- 
dom and learning of men, but in the power of God. It was 
not the most talented, but the most humble and devoted, 
who were the first to hear and obey the call. Farmers left 
their crops standing in the fields, mechanics laid down their 
tools, and with tears and rejoicing went out to give the 
warning. Those who had formerly led in the cause were 
among the last to join in this movement. The churches in 
general closed their doors against this message, and a large 
company of those who received it withdrew from their con- 
nection. In the providence of God, this proclamation united 
with the second angel's message, and gave power to that 
work. 

The message, " Behold, the Bridegroom cometh ! " was not 
so much a matter of argument, though the Scripture proof 
was clear and conclusive. There went with it an impelling 
power that moved the soul. There was no doubt, no ques- 
tioning. Upon the occasion of Christ's triumphal entry into 
Jerusalem, the people who were assembled from all parts of 
the land to keep the feast, flocked to the Mount of Olives, 
and as they joined the throng that were escorting Jesus, 
they caught the inspiration of the hour and helped to swell 
the shout, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the 
Lord ! " l In like manner did unbelievers who flocked to 
the Adventist meetings — some from curiosity, some merely 
to ridicule — feel the convincing power attending the mes- 
sage, " Behold, the Bridegroom cometh ! " 

At that time there was faith that brought answers to 
prayer, — faith that had respect to the recompense of reward. 
Like showers of rain upon the thirsty earth, the Spirit of 
grace descended upon the earnest seekers. Those who ex- 
pected soon to stand face to face with their Redeemer felt a 
solemn -joy that was unutterable. The softening, subduing 
power of the Holy Spirit melted the heart, as his blessing 
was bestowed in rich measure upon the faithful, believing 
ones. 



Matt. 21 : 9. 



PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 403 

Carefully and solemnly those who received the message 
came up to the time when they hoped to meet their Lord. 
Every morning they felt that it was their first duty to secure 
the evidence of their acceptance with God. Their hearts 
were closely united, and they prayed much with and for 
one another. They often met together in secluded places to 
commune with God, and the voice of intercession ascended 
to Heaven from the fields and groves. The assurance of the 
Saviour's approval was more necessary to them than their 
daily food, and if a cloud darkened their minds, they did 
not rest until it was swept away. As they felt the witness 
of pardoning grace, they longed to behold Him whom their 
souls loved. 

But again they were destined to disappointment. The 
time of expectation passed, and their Saviour did not appear. 
With unwavering confidence they had looked forward to his 
coming, and now they felt as did Mary, when, coming to 
the Saviour's tomb and finding it empty, she exclaimed with 
weeping, " They have taken away my Lord, and I know 
not where they have laid him." 1 

A feeling of aw T e, a fear that the message might be true, 
had for a time served as a restraint upon the unbelieving 
world. After the passing of the time, this did not at once 
disappear; at first they dared not triumph o\ T er the disap- 
pointed ones ; but as no tokens of God's wrath were seen, 
they recovered from their fears, and resumed their reproach 
and ridicule. A large class who had professed to believe in 
the Lord's soon coming, renounced their faith. Some who 
had been very confident were so deeply wounded in their 
pride that they felt like fleeing from the world. Like Jonah, 
they complained of God, and chose death rather than life. 
Those who had based their faith upon the opinions of others, 
and not upon the Word of God, were now as ready again to 
change their views. The scoffers won the weak and cow- 
ardly to their ranks, and all these united in declaring that 
there could be no more fears or expectations now. The 

1 John 20: 13. 



404 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY 



time had passed, the Lord had not come, and the world 
might remain the same for thousands of years. 

The earnest, sincere believers had given up all for Christ, 
and had shared his presence as never before. They had, as 
they believed, given their last warning to the world, and, 
expecting soon to be received into the society of their divine 
Master and the heavenly angels, they had, to a great extent, 
withdrawn from the society of those who did not receive the 
message. With intense desire they had prayed, "Come, 
Lord Jesus, and come quickly." But he had not come. And 
now to take up again the heavy burden of life's cares and 
perplexities, and to endure the taunts and sneers of a scoff- 
ing world, was a terrible trial of faith and patience. 

Yet this disappointment was not so great as was that 
experienced by the disciples at the time of Christ's first 
advent. When Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, 
his followers believed that he was about to ascend the throne 
of David, and deliver Israel from her oppressors. With 
high hopes and joyful anticipations they vied with one 
another in showing honor to their King. Many spread 
their outer garments as a carpet in his path, or strewed 
before him the leafy branches of the palm. In their enthu- 
siastic joy they united in the glad acclaim, "Hosanna to the 
Son of David ! " When the Pharisees, disturbed and angered 
by this outburst of rejoicing, wished Jesus to rebuke his dis- 
ciples, he replied, "If these should hold their peace, the 
stones would immediately cry out." 1 Prophecy must be 
fulfilled. The disciples were accomplishing the purpose of 
God; yet they were doomed to a bitter disappointment. But 
a few days had passed ere they witnessed the Saviour's 
agonizing death, and laid him in the tomb. Their expecta- 
tions had not been realized in a single particular, and their 
hopes died with Jesus. Not till their Lord had come forth 
triumphant from the grave could they perceive that all had 
been foretold by prophecy, and "that Christ must needs 
have suffered, and risen again from the dead." 2 

^ukelO^O. 2 Acts 17: 3. 



PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 405 

Five hundred years before, the Lord had declared by the 
prophet Zechariahj "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; 
shout, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy King cometh 
unto thee. He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and 
riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." 1 
Had the disciples realized that Christ was going to judgment 
and to death, they could not have fulfilled this prophecy. 

In like manner, Miller and his associates fulfilled proph- 
ecy, and gave a message which inspiration had foretold 
should be given to the world, but which they could not 
have given had they fully understood the prophecies point- 
ing out their disappointment, and presenting another mes- 
sage to be preached to all nations before the Lord should 
come. The first and second angels' messages were given 
at the right time, and accomplished the work which God 
designed to accomplish by them. 

The world had been looking on, expecting that if the 
time passed and Christ did not appear, the whole system of 
Adventism would be given up. But while many, under 
strong temptation, yielded their faith, there were some who 
stood firm. The fruits of the Advent movement, the spirit 
of humility and heart-searching, of renouncing of the world, 
and reformation of life, which had attended the work, testi- 
fied that it was of God. They dared not deny that the 
power of the Holy Spirit had witnessed to the preaching of 
the second advent, and they could detect no error in their 
reckoning of the prophetic periods. The ablest of their 
opponents had not succeeded in overthrowing their system 
of prophetic interpretation. They could not consent, with- 
out Bible evidence, to renounce positions which had been 
reached through earnest, prayerful study of the Scriptures, 
by minds enlightened by the Spirit of God, and hearts 
burning with its living power; positions which had with- 
stood the most searching criticisms and the most bitter 
opposition of popular religious teachers and worldly-wise 
men, and which had stood firm against the combined forces 

a Zech. 9:9. 



406 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

of learning and eloquence, and the taunts and revilings 
alike of the honorable and the base. 

True, there had been a failure as to the expected event, 
but even this could not shake their faith in the Word of 
God. When Jonah proclaimed in the streets of Nineveh 
that within forty days the city would be overthrown, the 
Lord accepted the humiliation of the Ninevites, and extended 
their period of probation; yet the message of Jonah was 
sent of God, and Nineveh was tested according to his will. 
Adventists believed that in like manner God had led them 
to give the warning of the Judgment. "It has," they de- 
clared, "tested the hearts of all who heard it, and awakened 
a love for the Lord's appearing ; or it has called forth a 
hatred, more or less perceivable, but known to God, of his 
coming. It has drawn a line, so that those who will examine 
their own hearts, may know on which side of it they would 
have been found, had the Lord then come; whether they 
would have exclaimed, ' Lo ! this is our God, we have waited 
for him, and he will save us;' or whether they would have 
called for rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them 
from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from 
the wrath of the Lamb. God thus, as we believe, has tested 
his people, has tried their faith, has proved them, and seen 
whether they would shrink, in the hour of trial, from the 
position in which he might see fit to place them; and 
whether they would relinquish this world and rely with 
implicit confidence in the work of God." 

The feelings of those who still believed that God had led 
them in their past experience, are expressed in the words of 
William Miller: "Were I to live my life over again, with 
the same evidence that I then had, to be honest with God 
and men I should have to do as I have done." "I hope I 
have cleansed my garments from the blood of souls; I feel 
that, as far as possible, I have freed myself from all guilt in 
their condemnation." "Although I have been twice disap- 
pointed," wrote this man of God, " I am not yet cast down or 



PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 407 

, __ » 

discouraged." " My hope in the coming of Christ is as strong 
as ever. I have done only what, after years of soher con- 
sideration, I felt it my solemn duty to do. If I have erred, 
it has been on the side of charity, the love of my fellow-man, 
and my conviction of duty to God." "One thing I do know, 
I have preached nothing but what I believed; and God's 
hand has been with me, his power has been manifested in 
the work, and much good has been effected." "Many thou- 
sands, to all human appearance, have been made to study 
the Scriptures by the preaching of the time; and by that 
means, through faith and the sprinkling of the blood of 
Christ, have been reconciled to God." " I have never courted 
the smiles of the proud, nor quailed when the world frowned. 
I shall not now purchase their favor, nor shall I go beyond 
duty to tempt their hate. I shall never seek my life at their 
hands, nor shrink, I hope, from losing it, if God in his good 
providence so orders." 

God did not forsake his people ; his Spirit still abode with 
those who did not rashly deny the light which they had 
received, and denounce the Advent movement. In the 
Epistle to the Hebrews are words of encouragement and 
warning for the tried, waiting ones at this crisis : " Cast not 
away therefore your confidence, which hath great recom- 
pense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after 
ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 
For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, 
and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith ; but if 
any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but 
of them that believe to the saving of the soul." 1 

That this admonition is addressed to the church in the 
last days is evident from the words pointing to the nearness 
of the Lord's coming: "For yet a little while, and He that 
shall come will come, and will not tarry." And it is plainly 
implied that there would be a seeming delay, and that the 
Lord would appear to tarry. The instruction here given is 

1 Heb. 10 : 35-39. 



408 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

especially adapted to the experience of Adventists at this 
time. The people here addressed were in danger of making 
shipwreck of faith. They had done the will of God in fol- 
lowing the guidance of his Spirit and his Word; yet they 
could not understand his purpose in their past experience, 
nor could they discern the pathway before them, and they 
were tempted to doubt whether God had indeed been lead- 
ing them. At this time the words were applicable, "Now 
the just shall live by faith." As the bright light of the 
"midnight cry" had shone upon their pathway, and they 
had seen the prophecies unsealed, and the rapidly fulfilling 
signs telling that the coming of Christ was near, they had 
walked, as it were, by sight. But now, bowed down by disap- 
pointed hopes, they could stand only by faith in God and 
in his Word. The scoffing world were saying, " You have 
been deceived. Give up your faith, and say that the Advent 
movement was of Satan." But God's Word declared, "If 
any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in 
him." To renounce their faith now, and deny 'the power of 
the Holy Spirit which had attended the message, would be 
drawing back toward perdition. They were encouraged to 
steadfastness by the words of Paul, "Cast not away there- 
fore your confidence;" "ye have need of patience;" "for yet 
a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will 
not tarry." Their only safe course was to cherish the light 
which they had already received of God, hold fast to his 
promises, and continue to search the Scriptures, and patiently 
wait and watch to receive further light. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 

The scripture which above all others had been both the 
foundation and central pillar of the Advent faith was the 
declaration, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; 
then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 1 These had been 
familiar words to all believers in the Lord's soon coming. 
By the lips of thousands was this prophecy repeated as the 
watchword of their faith. All felt that upon the events 
therein foretold depended their brightest expectations and 
most cherished hopes. These prophetic days had been 
shown to terminate in the autumn of 1844. In common 
with the rest of the Christian world, Adventists then held 
that the earth, or some, portion of it, was the sanctuary. 
They understood that the cleansing of the sanctuary was the 
purification of the earth by the fires of the last great day, 
and that this would take place at the second advent, Hence 
the conclusion that Christ would return to the earth in 1844. 

But the appointed time had passed, and the Lord had not 
appeared. The believers knew that God's Word could not 
fail; their interpretation of the prophecy must be at fault; 
but where was the mistake? Many rashly cut the knot of 
difficulty by denying that the 2300 days ended in 1844. 
No reason could be given for this, except that Christ had 
not come at the time they expected him. They argued that 
if the prophetic days had ended in 1844, Christ would then 
have returned to cleanse the sanctuary by the purification of 
the earth by fire; and that since he had not come, the days 
could not have ended. 

To accept this conclusion was to renounce the former 

^an. 8 :14. 
30 (409) 



410 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



reckoning of the prophetic periods. The 2300 days had 
been found to begin when the commandment of Artaxerxes 
for the restoration and building of Jerusalem went into 
effect, in the autumn of a. d. 457. Taking this as the 
starting-point, there was perfect harmony in the application 
of all the events foretold in the explanation of that period 
in Dan. 9 : 25-27. Sixty-nine weeks, the first 483 of the 2300 
years, were to reach to the Messiah, the Anointed One; and 
Christ's baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit, a. d. 27, 
exactly fulfilled the specification. In the midst of the sev- 
entieth week, Messiah was to be cut off. Three and a half 
years after his baptism, Christ was crucified, in the spring of 
A. d. 31. The seventy weeks, or 490 years, were to pertain 
especially to the Jews. At the expiration of this period, the 
nation sealed its rejection of Christ by the persecution of his 
disciples, and the apostles turned to the Gentiles, a. d. 34. 
The first 490 years of the 2300 having then ended, 1810 
years would remain. From a. d. 34, 1810 years extend to 
1844. "Then," said the angel, "shall the sanctuary be 
cleansed." All the preceding specifications of the prophecy 
had been unquestionably fulfilled at the time appointed. 
With this reckoning, all was clear and harmonious, except 
that it was not seen that any event answering to the cleans- 
ing of the sanctuary had taken place in 1844. To deny that 
the days ended at that time was to involve the whole ques- 
tion in confusion, and to renounce positions which had been 
established by unmistakable fulfillments of prophecy. 

But God had led his people in the great Advent move- 
ment; his power and glory had attended the work, and he 
would not permit it to end in darkness and disappointment, 
to be reproached as a false and fanatical excitement. He 
would not leave his word involved in doubt and uncer- 
tainty. Though many abandoned their former reckoning 
of the prophetic periods, and denied the correctness of the 
movement based thereon, others were unwilling to renounce 
points of faith and experience that were sustained by the 



WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 411 

Scriptures and by the witness of the Spirit of God. They 
believed that they had adopted sound principles of interpre- 
tation in their study of the prophecies, and that it was their 
duty to hold fast the truths already gained, and to continue 
the same course of Biblical research. With earnest prayer 
they reviewed their position, and studied the Scriptures to 
discover their mistake. As they could see no error in their 
reckoning of the prophetic periods, they were led to examine 
more closely the subject of the sanctuary. 1 

In their investigation they learned that there is no 
Scripture evidence sustaining the popular view that the 
earth is the sanctuary; but they found in the Bible a full 
explanation of the subject of the sanctuary, its nature, loca- 
tion, and services ; the testimony of the sacred waiters being 
so clear and ample as to place the matter beyond all ques- 
tion. The apostle Paul , in the Epistle to the Hebrews, says : 
"Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of 
divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a 
tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and 
the table, and the show-bread; which is called the sanctuary. 
And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the 
holiest of all ; which had the golden censer, and the ark of 
the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was 
the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that bud- 
ded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cheru- 
bim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat." 2 

The sanctuary to which Paul here refers was the taber- 
nacle built by Moses at the command of God, as the earthly 
dwelling-place of the Most High. "Let them make me a 
sanctuary, that I may dwell among them," 3 was the direc- 
tion given to Moses while in the mount with God. The 
Israelites were journeying through the wilderness, and the 
tabernacle was so constructed that it could be removed from 
place to place; yet it was a structure of great magnificence. 
Its walls consisted of upright boards heavily plated with. 

1 See Appendix, Note 6. 2 Heb. 9 : 1-5. 3 Ex. 25 : 8. 



412 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

gold, and set in sockets of silver, while the roof was formed 
of a series of curtains, or coverings, the outer of skins, 
the innermost of fine linen beautifully wrought with figures 
of cherubim. Besides the outer court, which contained the 
altar of burnt-offering, the tabernacle itself consisted of two 
apartments called the holy and the most holy place, sepa- 
rated by a rich and beautiful curtain, or veil; a similar veil 
closed the entrance to the first apartment. 

In the holy place was the candlestick, on the south, with 
its seven lamps giving light to the sanctuary both by day 
and by night; on the north stood the table of show-bread; 
and before the veil separating the holy from the most holy 
was the golden altar of incense, from which the cloud of 
fragrance, with the prayers of Israel, was daily ascending 
before God. 

In the most holy place stood the ark, a chest of precious 
W r ood overlaid with gold, the depository of the two tables of 
stone upon which God had inscribed the law of ten com- 
mandments. Above the ark, and forming the cover to the 
sacred chest, was the mercy-seat, a magnificent piece of 
workmanship, surmounted by two cherubim, one at each 
end, and all wrought of solid gold. In this apartment the 
divine presence was manifested in the cloud of glory between 
the cherubim. 

After the settlement of the Hebrews in Canaan, the taber- 
nacle was replaced by the temple of Solomon, which, though 
a permanent structure and upon a larger scale, observed 
the same proportions, and was similarly furnished. In this 
form the sanctuary existed — except while it lay in ruins in 
Daniel's time — until its destruction by the Romans, a. d. 70. 

This is the only sanctuary that ever existed on the earth r 
of which the Bible gives any information. This was declared 
by Paul to be the sanctuary of the first covenant. But has 
the new covenant no sanctuary? 

Turning again to the book of Hebrews, the seekers for 
truth found that the existence of a second, or new-cove- 



WIIA T IS THE SANCTUARY? 413 

nant sanctuary was implied in the words of Paul already 
quoted: "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances 
of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary." And the use 
of the word also intimates that Paul has before made men- 
tion of this sanctuary. Turning back to the beginning of 
the previous chapter they read: "Now of the things which 
we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high 
priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the 
Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of 
the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." 1 

Here is revealed the sanctuary of the new covenant. 
The sanctuary of the first covenant was pitched by man, 
built by Moses ; this is pitched by the Lord, not by man. 
In that sanctuary the earthly priests performed their service; 
in this, Christ, our great high priest, ministers at God's right 
hand. One sanctuary was on earth, the other is in Heaven. 

Further, the tabernacle built by Moses was made after a 
pattern. The Lord directed him, "According to all that I 
show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pat- 
tern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make 
it." 2 And again the charge was gWen, "Look that thou 
make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the 
mount." 2 And Paul says, that the first tabernacle "was a 
figure for the time then present, in which were offered both 
gifts and sacrifices;" that its holy places were "patterns of 
things in the heavens;" that the priests who offered gifts 
according to the law, served, "unto the example and shadow 
of heavenly things," and that "Christ is not entered into 
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of 
the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the pres- 
ence of God for us." 3 

The sanctuary in Heaven, in which Jesus ministers in 
our behalf, is the great original, of which the sanctuary 
built by Moses was a copy. God placed his Spirit upon the 
builders of the earthly sanctuary. The artistic skill dis- 

1 Heb. 8:1, 2. 2 Ex. 25:9, 40. 3 Heb. 9 : 9, 23 ; S : 5 ; 9 : 24. 



414 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

played in its construction was a manifestation of divine 
wisdom. The wails had the appearance of massive gold, 
reflecting in every direction the light of the seven lamps 
of the golden candlestick. The table of show-bread and the 
altar of incense glittered like burnished gold. The gor- 
geous curtain which formed the ceiling, inwrought with 
figures of angels in blue and purple and scarlet, added to 
the beauty of the scene. And beyond the second veil was 
the holy shekinah, the visible manifestation of God's glory, 
before which none but the high priest could enter and live. 
The matchless splendor of the earthly tabernacle reflected 
to human vision the glories of that heavenly temple where 
Christ our forerunner ministers for us before the throne of 
God. The abiding-place of the King of kings, where thou- 
sand thousands minister unto him, and ten thousand times 
ten thousand stand before him; 1 that temple, filled with 
the glory of the eternal throne, where seraphim, its shining 
guardians, veil their faces in adoration, could find, in the 
most magnificent structure ever reared by human hands, 
but a faint reflection of its vastness and glory. Yet impor- 
tant truths concerning the heavenly sanctuary and the 
great work there carried forward for man's redemption, 
were taught by the earthly sanctuary and its services. 

The holy places of the sanctuary in Heaven are represented 
by the two apartments in the sanctuary on earth. As in 
vision the apostle John was granted a view of the temple of 
God in Heaven, he beheld there " seven lamps of fire burn- 
ing before the throne." 2 He saw an angel "having a golden 
censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that 
he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the 
golden altar which was before the throne." 3 Here the 
prophet was permitted to behold the first apartment of the 
sanctuary in Heaven; and he saw there the "seven lamps 
of fire" and the "golden altar" represented by the golden 
candlestick and the altar of incense in the sanctuary on 

1 Dan. 7:10. * Rev. 4:5. 3 Rev. 8:3. 



WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 415 

earth. Again, "the temple of God was opened/' 1 and he 
looked within the inner veil, upon the holy of holies. Here 
he beheld ''the ark of His testament," represented by the 
sacred chest constructed by Moses to contain the law of God. 

Thus those who were studying the subject found indisput- 
able proof of the existence of a sanctuary in Heaven. Moses 
made the earthly sanctuary after a pattern which w r as 
shown him. Paul declares that that pattern was the true 
sanctuary which is in Heaven. And John testifies that he 
saw it in Heaven. 

In the temple in Heaven, the dwelling-place of God, his 
throne is established in' righteousness and judgment. In 
the most holy place is his law, the great rule of right by 
which all mankind are tested. The ark that enshrines the 
tables of the law is covered with the mercy-seat, before 
which Christ pleads his blood in the sinner's behalf. Thus 
is represented the union of justice and mercy in the plan of 
human redemption. This union infinite wisdom alone 
could devise, and infinite power accomplish ; it is a union 
that fills all Heaven with wonder and adoration. The 
cherubim of the earthly sanctuary, looking reverently down 
upon the mercy-seat, represent the interest with which the 
heavenly host contemplate the work of redemption. This 
is the mystery of mercy into which angels desire to look, — 
that God can be just while he justifies the repenting sinner, 
and renews his intercourse with the fallen race ; that Christ 
could stoop to raise unnumbered multitudes from the abyss 
of ruin, and clothe them with the spotless garments of his 
own righteousness, to unite with angels who have never 
fallen, and to dwell forever in the presence of God. 

The work of Christ as man's intercessor is presented in 
that beautiful prophecy of Zechariah concerning him " whose 
name is The Branch." Says the prophet : " He shall build 
the temple of the Lord ; and he shall bear the glory, and 
shall sit and rule upon his [the Father's] throne; and he 

iRev. 11 : 19. 



416 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace 
shall be between them both." l 

" He shall build the temple of the Lord." By his sacrifice 
and mediation, Christ is both the foundation and the builder 
of the church of God. The apostle Paul points to him as 
"the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly 
framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; 
in whom ye also," he says, "are builded together for a hab- 
itation of God through the Spirit." 2 

"And he shall bear the glory." To Christ belongs the 
glory of redemption for the fallen race. Through the eter- 
nal ages, the song of the ransomed ones will be, " Unto Him 
that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
. . . to him be glory and dominion forever and ever." 3 

He "shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a 
priest upon his throne." Not now "upon the throne of his 
glory;" the kingdom of glory has not yet been ushered in. 
Not until his work as a mediator shall be ended, will God 
" give unto him the throne of his father David," a kingdom 
of which " there shall be no end." i As a priest, Christ is 
now set down with the Father in his throne. 5 Upon the 
throne with the eternal, self-existent One, is he who " hath 
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows," who " was in all 
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin," that he might 
be " able to succor them that are tempted." " If any man sin, 
we have an Advocate with the Father." 6 His intercession 
is that of a pierced and broken body, of a spotless life. The 
wounded hands, the pierced side, the marred feet, plead for 
fallen man, whose redemption was purchased at such infinite 
cost. 

"And the counsel of peace shall be between them both." 
The love of the Father, no less than of the Son, is the fount- 
ain of salvation for the lost race. Said Jesus to his disciples, 
before he went away, "I say not unto you, that I will pray 

1 Zech. 6 : 13. ' 2 Eph. 2 : 20-22. 3 Eev. 1 : 5, 6. * Luke 1 : 32, 33. 
5 Rev. 3 :21. 6 Isa. 53:4; Heb. 4 : 15; 2 : 18; 1 John 2 : 1. 



WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 417 

the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you." 1 
God was "in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 2 
And in the ministration in the sanctuary above, "the counsel 
of peace shall be between them both." "God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life;- 5 

The question, What is the sanctuary? is clearly an- 
swered in the Scriptures. The term sanctuary, as used in 
the Bible, refers, first, to the tabernacle built by Moses, as 
a pattern of heavenly things; and, secondly, to the "true 
tabernacle" in Heaven, to which the earthly sanctuary 
pointed. At the death of Christ the typical service ended. 
The "true tabernacle" in Heaven is the sanctuary of the 
new covenant. And as the prophecy of Dan. 8:14 is ful- 
filled in this dispensation, the sanctuary to which it refers 
must be the sanctuary of the new covenant. At the termi- 
nation of the 2300 days, in 1S44, there had been no sanct- 
uary on earth for many centuries. Thus the prophecy, 
"Unto two thousand three hundred days; then shall the 
sanctuary be cleansed," unquestionably points to the sanct- 
uary in Heaven. 

But the" most important question remains to be answered : 
What is the cleansing of the sanctuary? That there w T as 
such a service in connection with the earthly sanctuary, is 
stated in the Old-Testament Scriptures. But can there be 
anything in Heaven to be cleansed? In Hebrews 9 the 
cleansing of both the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary is 
plainly taught. "Almost all things are by the law purged 
with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the 
heavens should be purified with these [the blood of animals] ; 
but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices 
than these," 4 even the precious blood of Christ. 

The cleansing, both in the typical and in the real service, 

1 John 16 : 26, 27. 2 2 Cor. 5:19. 3 John 3:16. * Heb. 9 : 22, 23. 



418 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

must be accomplished with blood; in the former, with the 
blood of animals; in the latter, with the blood of Christ. 
Paul states, as the reason why this cleansing must be per- 
formed with blood, that without shedding of blood is no 
remission. Remission, or putting away of sin, is the work 
to be accomplished. But how could there be sin connected 
with the sanctuary, either in Heaven or upon the earth? 
This may be learned by reference to the symbolic service; 
for the priests who officiated on earth, served "unto the 
example and shadow of heavenly things." l 

The ministration of the earthly sanctuary consisted of 
two divisions ; the priests ministered daily in the holy place, 
while once a year the high priest performed a special work 
of atonement in the most holy, for the cleansing of the 
sanctuary. Day by day the repentant sinner brought his 
offering to the door of the tabernacle, and placing his hand 
upon the victim's head, confessed his sins, thus in figure 
transferring them from himself to the innocent sacrifice. 
The animal was then slain. " Without shedding of blood," 
says the apostle, there is no remission of sin. " The life of the 
flesh is in the blood." 2 The broken law of God demanded the 
life of the transgressor. The blood, representing the forfeited 
life of the sinner, whose guilt the victim bore, was carried 
by the priest into the holy place and sprinkled before the 
veil, behind which was the ark containing the law that the 
sinner had transgressed. By this ceremony the sin was, 
through the blood, transferred in figure to the sanctuary. 
In some cases the blood was not taken into the holy place; 
but the flesh was then to be carried in, and eaten by the 
priest, as Moses directed the sons of Aaron, saying, "God 
hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation." 3 
Both ceremonies alike symbolized the transfer of the sin 
from the penitent to the sanctuary. 

Such was the work that went on, day by day, throughout 
the year. The sins of Israel were thus transferred to the 

1 Heb. 8:5. 2 Lev. 17:11. 3 Lev. 10:17. 



WIIA T IS TUB SAXCTUA R Y? 41 9 

sanctuary, and a special work became necessary for their 
removal. God commanded that an atonement be made for 
each of the sacred apartments. "He shall make an atone- 
ment for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the 
children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all 
their sins; and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their 
uncleanness." x An atonement was also to be made for the 
altar, to "cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of 
the children of Israel." l 

Once a year, on the great clay of atonement, the priest 
entered the most holy place for the cleansing of the sanct- 
uary. The work there performed completed the yearly 
round of ministration. On the day of atonement, two kids 
of the goats were brought to the door of the tabernacle, 
and lots were cast upon them, " one lot for the Lord, and 
the other lot for the scape-goat," 2 The goat upon which 
fell the lot for the Lord was to be slain as a sin-offering 
for the people. And the priest was to bring his blood 
within the veil, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and 
before the mercy-seat. The blood was also to be sprinkled 
upon the altar of incense, that was before the veil. 

"And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of 
the lh T e goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the 
children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their 
sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall 
send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilder- 
ness; and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities 
unto a land not inhabited." 2 The scape-goat came no more 
into the camp of Israel, and the man who led him away 
was required to wash himself and his clothing with water 
before returning to the camp. 

The whole ceremony was designed xo impress the Israelites 
with the holiness of God and his abhorrence of sin, and, 
further, to show them that they could not come in contact 

1 Lev. 16:16, 19. 2 Lev. 16 : 8, 21, 22. 



420 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

with sin without becoming polluted. Every man was re- 
quired to afflict his soul while this work of atonement was 
going forward. All business was to be laid aside, and the 
whole congregation of Israel were to spend the day in solemn 
humiliation before God, with prayer, fasting, and deep 
searching of heart. 

Important truths concerning the atonement are taught by 
the typical service. A substitute was accepted in the sinner's 
stead; but the sin was not canceled by the blood of the 
victim. A means was thus provided by which it was trans- 
ferred to the sanctuary. By the offering of blood, the sinner 
acknowledged the authority of the law, confessed his guilt 
in transgression, and expressed his desire for pardon through 
faith in a Redeemer to come; but he was not yet entirely 
released from the condemnation of the law. On the day of 
atonement the high priest, having taken an offering from 
the congregation, went into the most holy place with the 
blood of this offering, and sprinkled it upon the mercy-seat, 
directly over the law, to make satisfaction for its claims. 
Then, in his character of mediator, he took the sins upon 
himself, and bore them from the sanctuary. Placing his 
hands upon the head of the scape-goat, he confessed over 
him all these sins, thus in figure transferring them from 
himself to the goat. The goat then bore them away, and 
they were regarded as forever separated from the people. 

Such was the service performed "unto the example and 
shadow of heavenly things." And what was done in type 
in the ministration of the earthly sanctuary, is done in reality 
in the ministration of the heavenly sanctuary. After his 
ascension, our Saviour began his work as our high priest. 
Says Paul, "Christ is not entered into the holy places made 
with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into 
Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." 1 

The ministration of the priest throughout the year in the 
first apartment of the sanctuary, "within the veil" which 
formed the door and separated the holy place from the outer 

iHeb. 9:24. 



WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 421 

court, represents the work of ministration upon which Christ 
entered at his ascension. It was the work of the priest in 
the daily ministration to present before God the blood of 
the sin-offering, also the incense which ascended with the 
prayers of Israel. So did Christ plead his blood before the 
Father in behalf of sinners, and present before him also, 
with the precious fragrance of his own righteousness, the 
prayers of penitent believers. Such was the work of minis- 
tration in the first apartment of the sanctuary in Heaven. 

Thither the faith of Christ's disciples followed him as he 
ascended from their sight. Here their hopes centered,, 
"which hope we have," said Paul, "as an anchor of the soul, 
both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within 
the veil ; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, 
made an high priest forever." "Neither by the blood of 
goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once 
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption 
for us." 1 

For eighteen centuries this work of ministration con- 
tinued in the first apartment of the sanctuary. The blood 
of Christ, pleaded in behalf of penitent believers, secured 
their pardon and acceptance with the Father, yet their sins 
still remained upon the books of record. As in the typical 
service there was a work of atonement at the close of the 
year, so before Christ's work for the redemption of men is 
completed, there is a work of atonement for the removal of 
sin from the sanctuary. This is the service which began 
when the 2300 days ended. At that time, as foretold by 
Daniel the prophet, our High Priest entered the most holy, 
to perform the last division of his solemn work, — to cleanse 
the sanctuary. 

As anciently the sins of the people were by faith placed 
upon the sin-offering, and through its blood transferred, in 
figure, to the earthly sanctuary, so in the new covenant the 
sins of the repentant are by faith placed upon Christ, and 
transferred, in fact, to the heavenly sanctuary. And as the 

^eb. 6:19, 20; 9:12. 



422 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the 
removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the 
actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by 
the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which are there 
recorded. But, before this can be accomplished, there must 
be an examination of the books of record to determine who, 
through repentance of sin, and faith in Christ, are entitled 
to the benefits of his atonement. The cleansing of the 
sanctuary therefore involves a work of investigation, — a 
w T ork of judgment. This work must be performed prior to 
the coming of Christ to redeem his people; for when he 
comes, his reward is with him to give to every man accord- 
ing to his works. 1 

Thus those who followed in the light of the prophetic 
word saw, that, instead of coming to the earth at the ter- 
mination of the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered 
the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to perform 
the closing work of atonement, preparatory to his coming. 

It was seen, also, that while the sin-offering pointed to 
Christ as a sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ 
as a mediator, the scape-goat typified Satan, the author of sin, 
upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be 
placed. "When the high priest, by virtue of the blood of 
the sin-offering, removed the sins from the sanctuary, he 
placed them upon the scape-goat, When Christ, by virtue 
of his own blood, removes the sins of his people from the 
heavenly sanctuary at the close of his ministration, he will 
place them upon Satan, who, in the execution of the judg- 
ment, must bear the final penalty. The scape-goat was 
sent away into a land not inhabited, never to come again 
into the congregation of Israel. So will Satan be forever 
banished from the presence of God 'and his people, and he 
will be blotted from existence in the final destruction of sin 
and sinners. 

1 Rev. 22 : 12. 



CHAPTER XXIV, 



IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 

The subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked 
the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to 
view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, 
showing that God's hand had directed the great Advent 
movement, and revealing present duty as it brought to light 
the position and work of his people. As the disciples of 
Jesus, after the terrible night of their anguish and disap- 
pointment, were "glad when they saw the Lord," so did 
those now rejoice who had looked in faith for his second 
coming. They had expected him to appear in glory to give 
reward to his servants. As their hopes were disappointed, 
they had lost sight of Jesus, and with Mary at the sepulcher 
they cried, " They have taken away my Lord, and I know not 
where they have laid him." Now in the holy of holies they 
again beheld him, their compassionate high priest, soon to 
appear as their king and deliverer. Light from the sanctu- 
ary illumed the past, the present, and the future. They 
knew that God had led them by his unerring providence. 
Though like the first disciples they themselves had failed to 
understand the message which they bore, yet it had been in 
every respect correct. In proclaiming it they had fulfilled 
the purpose of God, and their labor had not been in vain 
in the Lord. "Begotten again unto a lively hope," they 
rejoiced "with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 

Both the prophecy of Dan. 8 : 14, " Unto two thousand and 
three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," 
and the first angel's message, " Fear God, and give glory to 
him; for the hour of his Judgment is come," pointed to 

(423) 



424 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Christ's ministration in the most holy place, to the investi- 
gative Judgment, and not to the coming of Christ for the 
redemption of his people and the destruction of the wicked. 
The mistake had not been in the reckoning of the prophetic 
periods, but in the event to take place at the end of the 2300 
days. Through this error the believers had suffered dis- 
appointment, yet all that was foretold by the prophecy, and 
all that they had any Scripture warrant to expect, had been 
accomplished. At the very time when they were lament- 
ing the failure of their hopes, the event had taken place 
which was foretold by the message, and which must be 
fulfilled before the Lord could appear to give reward to his 
servants. 

Christ had come, not to the earth, as they expected, but, 
as foreshadowed in the type, to the most holy place of the 
temple of God in 'Heaven. He is represented by the prophet 
Daniel as coming at this time to the Ancient of days: "'I 
saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of 
man came with the clouds of heaven, and came" — not to 
the earth, but — " to the Ancient of days, and they brought 
him near before him." l 

This coming is foretold also by the prophet Malachi. 
"The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his tem- 
ple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight 
in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." 2 The 
coming of the Lord to his temple was sudden, unexpected, 
to his people. They were not looking for him there. They 
expected him to come to earth, "in flaming fire taking 
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not 
the gospel." 3 

But the people were not yet ready to meet their Lord. 
There was still a work of preparation to be accomplished 
for them. Light was to be given, directing their minds to 
the temple of God in Heaven ; and as they should by faith 
follow their High Priest in his ministration there, new duties 

1 Dan. 7 : 13. 2 Mai. 3:1. 3 2 Thess. 1 : 8. 



IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 425 



would be revealed. Another message of warning and in- 
struction was to be given to the church. 

Says the prophet : " Who may abide the day of his coming? 
and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like 
a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap; and he shall sit as a 
refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons 
of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may 
offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." 1 Those 
who are living upon the earth when the intercession of 
Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above, are to stand in the 
sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must 
be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by 
the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and 
their own diligent effort, they must be conquerors in the 
battle with evil. While the investigative Judgment is going 
forward in Heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are 
being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special 
w^ork of purification, of putting away of sin, among God's 
people upon earth. This work is more clearly presented in 
the messages of Revelation 14. 

When this work shall have been accomplished, the fol- 
lowers of Christ will be ready for his appearing. "Then 
shall the offering of Juclah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto 
the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years." 2 
Then the church which our Lord at his coming is to receive 
to himself will be " a glorious church, not having spot, or 
wrinkle, or any such thing." 3 Then she will look forth "as 
the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible 
as an army with banners." 4 

Besides the coming of the Lord to his temple, Malachi 
also foretells his second advent, his coming for the execution 
of the judgment, in these words: "And I will come near to 
you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the 
sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false 
swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his 

1 Mai. 3 : 2, 3. 2 Mai. 3:4. 3 Eph. 5 : 27. 4 Cant. 6 : 10. 

31 



426 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside 
the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord 
of hosts." * Jude refers to the same scene when he says, 
"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 
to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are 
ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds/' 2 This 
coming, and the coming of the Lord to his temple, are dis- 
tinct and separate events. 

The coming of Christ as our high priest to the most holy 
place, for the cleansing of the sanctuary, brought to view in 
Dan. 8:14; the coming of the Son of man to the Ancient of 
days, as presented in Dan. 7:13; and the coming of the Lord 
to his temple, foretold by Malachi, are descriptions of the 
same event; and this is also represented by the coming of 
the bridegroom to the marriage, described by Christ in the 
parable of the ten virgins, of Matthew 25. 

In the summer and autumn of 1844, the proclamation^ 
"Behold, the Bridegroom cometh," was given. The two 
classes represented by the wise and foolish virgins were 
then developed, — one class wiio looked with joy to the 
Lord's appearing, and who had been diligently preparing 
to meet him; another class that, influenced by fear, and 
acting from impulse, had been satisfied with a theory of the 
truth, but were destitute of the grace of God. In the par- 
able, when the bridegroom came, " they that were ready went 
in with him to the marriage." The coming of the bride- 
groom, here brought to view, takes place before the mar- 
riage. The marriage represents the reception by Christ of 
his kingdom. The holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is 
the capital and representative of the kingdom, is called "the 
bride, the Lamb's wife." Said the angel to John, " Come 
hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." " He 
carried me away in the spirit," says the prophet, "and 
showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending 
out of Heaven from God." 3 Clearly, then, the bride repre- 

1 Mai. 3:5. 2 Jude 14, 15, s R ev . 21 : 9, 10. 



IN TUB HOLY OF HOLIES. 427 



sents the holy city, and the virgins that go out to meet the 
bridegroom are a symbol of the church. In the Revelation 
the people of God are said to be the guests at the marriage 
supper. ! If guests, they cannot be represented also as the 
bride. Christ, as stated by the prophet Daniel, will re- 
ceive from the Ancient of days in Heaven, " dominion, and 
glory, and a kingdom," he will receive the New Jerusalem, 
the capital of his kingdom, "prepared as a bride adorned 
for her husband."' 2 Having received the kingdom, he will 
come in his glory, as King of kings, and Lord of lords, for 
the redemption of his people, who are to "sit down with 
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob," at his table in his king- 
dom, 3 to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb. 

The proclamation, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh," in 
the summer of 1844, led thousands to expect the immediate 
advent of the Lord. At the appointed time the Bridegroom 
came, not to the earth, as the people expected, but to the 
Ancient of days in Heaven, to the marriage, the reception of 
his kingdom. " They that were ready went in with him to 
the marriage, and the door was shut." They were not to be 
present in person at the marriage; for it takes place in 
Heaven, while they are upon the earth. The followers of 
Christ are to "wait for their Lord, when he will return from 
the wedding." 4 But they are to understand his work, and 
to follow him by faith as he goes in before God. It is in 
this sense that they are said to go in to the marriage. 

In the parable it was those that had oil in their vessels 
with their lamps that went in to the marriage. Those who, 
with a knowledge of the truth from the Scriptures, had also 
the Spirit and grace of God, and who, in the night of their 
bitter trial, had patiently waited, searching the Bible for 
clearer light, — these saw the truth concerning the sanctuary 
in Heaven and the Saviour's change of ministration, and 
by faith they followed him in his work in the sanctuary 

1 Rev. 19:9. 2 Dan. 7 : 14 ; Rev. 21 : 2. 

3 Matt. 8:11; Luke 22 : 30. * Luke 12 : 36. 



423 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

above. And all who through the testimony of the Script- 
ures accept the same truths, following Christ by faith as he 
enters in before God to perform the last work of mediation, 
and at its close to receive his kingdom, — all these are repre- 
sented as going in to the marriage. 

In the parable of Matthew 22 the same figure of the 
marriage is introduced, and the investigative Judgment is 
clearly represented as taking place before the marriage. 
Previous to the wedding the king comes in to see the guests, 1 
— to see if all are attired in the wedding garment, the spot- 
less robe of character washed and made white in the blood 
of the Lamb. 2 He who is found wanting is cast out, but 
all who upon examination are seen to have the wedding 
garment on, are accepted of God, and accounted worthy of a 
share in his kingdom and a seat upon his throne. This 
work of examination of character, of determining who are 
prepared for the kingdom of God, is that of the investigative 
Judgment, the closing work in the sanctuary above. 

When the work of investigation shall be ended, when the 
cases of those who in all ages have professed to be followers 
of Christ have been examined and decided, then, and not 
till then, probation will close, and the door of mercy will be 
shut. Thus in the one short sentence, "They that were 
ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was 
shut," we are carried down through the Saviour's final 
ministration, to the time when the great work for man's 
salvation shall be completed. 

In the service of the earthly sanctuary, which, as we have 
seen, is a figure of the service in the heavenly, when the 
high priest on the day of atonement entered the most holy 
place, the ministration in the first apartment ceased. God 
commanded, "There shall' be no man in the tabernacle of 
the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement 
in the holy place, until he come out." 3 So when Christ 
entered the holy of holies to perform the closing work of 

1 Matt. 22 : 11. * Rev. 7 : 14. 3 Lev. 16 : 17. 



IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 429 

the atonement, he ceased his ministration in the first apart- 
ment. But when the ministration in the first apartment 
ended, the ministration in the second apartment began. 
When in the typical service the high priest left the holy on 
the day of atonement, he went in before God to present the 
blood of the sin-offering in behalf of all Israel who truly 
repented of their sins. So Christ had only completed one 
part of his work as our intercessor, to enter upon another 
portion of the work, and he still pleaded his blood before 
the Father in behalf of sinners. 

This subject was not understood by Adventists in 1844. 
After the passing of the time when the Saviour was expected, 
they still, believed his coming to be near; they held that 
they had reached an important crisis, and that the work of 
Christ as man's intercessor before God, had ceased. It ap- 
peared to them to be taught in the Bible, that man's proba- 
tion would close a short time before the actual coming of 
the Lord in the clouds of heaven. This seemed evident 
from those scriptures which point to a time when men 
will seek, knock, and cry at the door of mercy, and it will 
not be opened. And it was a question with them whether 
the date to which they had looked for the coming of Christ 
might not rather mark the beginning of this period which 
was to immediately precede his coming. Having given the 
warning of the Judgment near, they felt that their work for 
the world was done, and they lost their burden of soul for 
the salvation of sinners, while the bold and blasphemous 
scoffing of the ungodly seemed to them another evidence 
that the Spirit of God had been withdrawn from the reject- 
ers of his mercy. All this confirmed them in the belief 
that probation had ended, or, as they then expressed it, "the 
door of mercy was shut." : 

But clearer light came w T ith the investigation of the sanct- 
uary question. They now saw that they were correct in 
believing that the end of the 2300 days in 1844 marked an 

1 See Appendix, Note 7. 



430 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

important crisis. But while it was true that that door of 
hope and mercy by which men had for eighteen hundred 
years found access to God was closed, another door was 
opened, and forgiveness of sins was offered to men through 
the intercession of Christ in the most holy. One part of his 
ministration had closed, only to give place to another. 
There was still an " open door " to the heavenly sanctuary 
where Christ was ministering in the sinner's behalf. 

Now was seen the application of those words of Christ in 
the Revelation, addressed to the church at this very time: 
" These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that 
hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; 
and shutteth, and no man openeth: I know thy works; be- 
hold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can 
shut it." * 

It is those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of 
the atonement, who receive the benefits of his mediation in 
their behalf; while those who reject the light which brings 
to view this work of ministration, are not benefited thereby. 
The Jews who rejected the light given at Christ's first 
advent, and refused to believe on him as the Saviour of the 
world, could not receive pardon through him. When Jesus 
at his ascension entered by his own blood into the- heavenly 
sanctuary to shed upon his disciples the blessings of his 
mediation, the Jews were left in total darkness, to continue 
their useless sacrifices and offerings. The ministration of 
types and shadows had ceased. That door by which men 
had formerly found access to God, was no longer open. The 
Jews had refused to seek him in the only way whereby he 
could then be found, through the ministration in the sanct- 
uary in Heaven. Therefore they found no communion 
with God. To them the door was shut. They had no 
knowledge of Christ as the true sacrifice and the only medi- 
ator before God; hence they could not receive the benefits 
of his mediation. 

The condition of the unbelieving Jews illustrates the con- 

1 Rev. 3 : 7, 8. 



IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 431 

dition of the careless and unbelieving among professed Chris- 
tians, who are willingly ignorant of the work of our merci- 
ful High Priest. In the typical service, when the high 
priest entered the most holy place, all Israel were required 
to gather about the sanctuary, and in the most solemn man- 
ner humble their souls before God, that they might receive 
the pardon of their sins, and not be cut off from the con- 
gregation. How much more essential in this anti typical 
day of atonement that we understand the work of our High 
Priest, and know what duties are required of us. 

Men cannot with impunity reject the warnings which 
God in mercy sends them. A message was sent from 
Heaven to the world in Noah's day, and their salvation 
depended upon the manner in which they treated that mes- 
sage. Because they rejected the warning, the Spirit of God 
was withdrawn from the sinful race, and they perished in 
the waters of the flood. In the time of Abraham, mercy 
ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and all 
but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by 
the fire sent down from heaven. So in the days of Christ. 
The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that 
generation, "Your house is left unto you desolate." 1 Look- 
ing down to the last clays, the same infinite power declares, 
concerning those who " received not the love of the truth, 
that they might be saved," " For this cause God shall send 
them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that 
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but 
had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 As they reject the 
teachings of his Word, God withdraws his Spirit, and leaves 
them to the deceptions which they love. 

But Christ still intercedes in man's behalf, and light will 
be given to those who seek it. Though this was not at first 
understood by Adventists, it was afterward made plain, as 
the scriptures which define their true position began to open 
before them. 

1 Matt. 23 : 38. 2 2 Thess. 2 : 10-12. 



432 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

The passing of the time in 1844 was followed by a period 
of great trial to those who still held the Advent faith. 
Their only relief, so far as ascertaining their true position 
was concerned, was the light which directed their minds to 
the sanctuary above. Some renounced their faith in their 
former reckoning of the prophetic periods, and ascribed to 
human or Satanic agencies the powerful influence of the 
Holy Spirit which had attended the Advent movement. 
Another class firmly held that the Lord had led them in 
their past experience; and as they waited and watched and 
prayed to know the will of God, they saw that their great 
High Priest had entered upon another work of ministration, 
and, following him by faith, they were led to see also the 
closing work of the church. They had a clearer under- 
standing of the first and second angels' messages, and were 
prepared to receive and give to the world the solemn warn- 
ing of the third angel of Revelation 14. 



CHAPTER XXV 



GOD'S LAW IMMUTABLE. 

"The temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there 
was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." 1 The ark 
of God's testament is in the holy of holies, the second apart- 
ment of the sanctuary. In the ministration of the earthly 
tabernacle, which served " unto the example and shadow of 
heavenly things," this apartment was opened only upon the 
great day of atonement, for the cleansing of the sanctuary. 
Therefore the announcement that the temple of God was 
opened in Heaven, and the ark of his testament was seen, 
points to the opening of the most holy place of the heavenly 
sanctuary, in 1844, as Christ entered there to perform the 
closing work of the atonement. Those who by faith followed 
their great High Priest, as he entered upon his ministry in 
the most holy place, beheld the ark of his testament. As 
they had studied the subject of the sanctuary, they had 
come to understand the Saviour's change of ministration, 
and they saw that he was now officiating before the ark of 
God, pleading his blood in behalf of sinners. 

The ark in the tabernacle on earth contained the two 
tables of stone, upon which were inscribed the precepts of 
the law of God. The ark was merely a receptacle for the 
tables of the law, and the presence of these divine precepts 
gave to it its value and sacredness. When the temple of God 
was opened in Heaven, the ark of his testament was seen. 
Within the holy of holies, in the sanctuary in Heaven, the 
divine law is sacredly enshrined, — the law that was spoken 
by God himself amid the thunders of Sinai, and written 
with his own finger on the tables of stone. 

1 Uev. 11 .19. 

(133) 



434 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

The law of God in the sanctuary in Heaven is the great 
original, of which the precepts inscribed upon the tables of 
stone, and recorded by Moses in the Pentateuch, were an 
unerring transcript. Those who arrived at an understand- 
ing of this important point, were thus led to see the sacred, 
unchanging character of the divine law. They saw, as 
never before, the force of the Saviour's words, " Till heaven 
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass 
from the law." 1 The law of God, being a revelation of his 
will, a transcript of his character, must forever endure, " as a 
faithful witness in Heaven." Not one command has been 
annulled; not a jot or tittle has been changed. Says the 
psalmist : " Forever, Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven." 
"All his commandments' are sure. They stand fast forever 
and ever." 2 

In the very bosom of the decalogue is the fourth com- 
mandment, as it was first proclaimed : " Remember the Sab- 
bath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do 
all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the 
Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor 
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid- 
servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy 
gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; 
wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed 
it," 3 

The Spirit of God impressed the hearts of those students 
of his Word. The conviction was urged upon them, that 
they had ignorantly transgressed this precept by disregard- 
ing the Creator's rest-day. They began to examine the rea- 
sons for observing the first day of the week instead of the 
day which God had sanctified. They could find no evi- 
dence in the Scriptures that the fourth commandment had 
been abolished, or that the Sabbath had been changed ; the 
blessing which first hallowed the seventh day had never 

1 Matt.5:18. 2 Ps. 119 :89 ; 111 : 7, 8. 3 Ex. 20:8-11. 



GOD'S LA W IMMUTABLE. 435 

been removed. They had been honestly seeking to know 
and to do God's will; now, as they saw themselves trans- 
gressors of his law, sorrow rilled their hearts, and they 
manifested their loyalty to God by keeping his Sabbath 
holy. 

Many and earnest were the efforts made to overthrow their 
faith. None could fail to see that if the earthly sanctuary 
was a figure or pattern of the heavenly, the law deposited 
in the ark on earth was an exact transcript of the law in 
the ark in Heaven; and that an acceptance of the truth 
concerning the heavenly sanctuary involved an acknowl- 
edgment of the claims of God's law, and the obligation of the 
Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Here was the secret 
of the bitter and determined opposition to the harmonious 
exposition of the Scriptures that revealed the ministration of 
Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Men sought to close the 
door which God had opened, and to open the door which he 
had closed. But "He that openeth, and no man shutteth; 
and shutteth, and no man openeth," had declared, " Behold, 
I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut 
it." 1 Christ had opened the door, or ministration, of the 
most holy place, light was shining from that open door of 
the sanctuary in Heaven, and the fourth commandment was 
shown to be included in the law which is there enshrined; 
what God had established, no man could overthrow. 

Those who had accepted the light concerning the media- 
tion of Christ and the perpetuity of the law of God, found 
that these were the truths presented in Revelation 14. The 
messages of this chapter constitute a threefold warning, 2 
which is to prepare the inhabitants of the earth for the 
Lord's second coming. The announcement, " The hour of 
his Judgment is come," points to the closing work of 
Christ's ministration for the salvation of men. It heralds 
a truth which must be proclaimed until the Saviour's in- 
tercession shall cease, and he shall return to the earth to 

1 Eev. 3:7,8. 2 See Appendix, Note 8. 



436 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



take his people to himself. The work of judgment which 
began in 1844, must continue until the cases of all are 
decided, both of the living and the dead ; hence it will extend 
to the close of human probation. That men may be pre- 
pared to stand in the Judgment, the message commands 
them to "fear God, and give glory to him," "and worship 
him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the 
fountains of waters." The result of an acceptance of these 
messages is given in the words, " Here are they that keep 
the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." In 
order to be prepared for the Judgment, it is necessary that 
men should keep the law of God. That law will be the 
standard of character in the Judgment. The apostle Paul 
declares, "As many as 'have sinned in the law shall be 
judged by the law; ... in the day when God shall judge 
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." And he says that " the 
doers of the law shall be justified." 1 Faith is essential in 
order to the keeping of the law of God; for "without faith 
it is impossible to please him." And " whatsoever is not of 
faith is sin." 2 

By the first angel, men are called upon to "fear God, and 
give glory to him," and to worship him as the Creator of 
the heavens and the earth. In order to do this, they must 
obey his law. Says the wise man, " Fear God, and keep his 
commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." 3 With- 
out obedience to his commandments, no worship can be 
pleasing to God. "This is the love of God, that we keep 
his commandments." " He that turneth away his ear from 
hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." 4 

The duty to worship God is based upon the fact that he is 
the Creator, and that to him all other beings owe their exist- 
ence. And wherever, in the Bible, his claim to reverence 
and worship, above the gods of the heathen, is presented, 
there is cited the evidence of his creative power. "All the 

iRom. 2:12-16. 2 Ueb. 11 • 6 ; Rom 14:23. 

3 Eccl. 12:13. i 1 John 5:3; Prov. 28 : 9. 



G OB'S LA W IMMUTABLE. 437 

gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the 
heavens." 1 "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I 
be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, 
and behold who hath created these things." "Thus saith 
the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that 
formed the earth and made it; . . . I am Jehovah; 
and there is none else/' 2 Says the psalmist, "Know ye that 
Jehovah, he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we 
ourselves." "0 come, let us worship and bow down, let us 
kneel before the Lord our Maker." 3 And the holy beings 
who worship God in Heaven state, as the reason why their 
homage is due to him, "Thou art worthy. Lord, to receive 
glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all 
things." 4 

In Revelation 14, men are called upon to worship the Cre- 
ator, and the prophecy brings to view a class that, as the result 
of the threefold message, are keeping the commandments of 
God. One of these commandments points directly to God as 
the Creator. The fourth precept declares: "The seventh 
day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. . . . For in 
six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all 
that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the 
Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." ° Concern- 
ing the Sabbath, the Lord says, further, that it is "a sign, 
. . . that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." 6 
And the reason given is, " For in six days the Lord made 
heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and 
was refreshed." 7 

" The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of cre- 
ation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why 
worship is due to God," because he is the Creator, and we his 
creatures. " The Sabbath therefore lies at the very founda- 
tion of divine worship; for it teaches this great truth in the 
most impressive manner, and no other institution does this. 

1 Ps. 96 : 5. 2 Isa. 40 : 25, 26; 45 : 18. 3 Ps. 100 : 3; 95 : 6. 

* Rev. 4:11. 5 Ex.20:10, 11. 6 Eze. 20:20. 

7 Ex. 31 :17. 



438 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the 
seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the 
distinction between the Creator and his creatures. This 
great fact can never become obsolete, and must never be 
forgotten." It was to keep this truth ever before the minds 
of men, that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so 
long as the fact that he is our Creator continues to be a 
reason why we should worship him, so long the Sabbath will 
continue as its sign and memorial. Had the Sabbath been 
universally kept, man's thoughts and affections would have 
been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and wor- 
ship, and there would never have been an idolater, an 
atheist, or an infidel. The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign 
of loyalty to the true God, "him that made heaven and 
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." It follows 
that the message which commands men to worship God 
and keep his commandments, will especially call upon 
them to keep the fourth commandment. 

In contrast to those who keep the commandments of 
God and have the faith of Jesus, the third angel points 
to another class, against whose errors a solemn and 
fearful warning is uttered : " If any man worship the beast 
and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in 
his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of 
God." l A correct interpretation of the symbols employed is 
necessary to an understanding of this message. What is rep- 
resented by the beast, the image, the mark? 

The line of prophecy in which these symbols are found, 
begins with Revelation 12, with the dragon that sought to de- 
stroy Christ at his birth. The dragon is said to be Satan ; 2 he 
it was that moved upon Herod to put the Saviour to death. 
But the chief agent of Satan in making war upon Christ and 
his people during the first centuries of the Christian era, was 
the Roman Empire, in which paganism was the prevailing 
religion. Thus while the dragon, primarily, represents Satan, 
it is, in a secondary sense, a symbol of pagan Rome. 

x Kev. 14:9, 10. 2 Rev. 12:9. 



GOD'S LA W IMMUTABLE. 439 

In chapter 13 x is described another beast, "like unto a 
leopard," to which the dragon gave " his power, and his scat, 
and groat authority." This symbol, as most Protestants 
have believed, represents the papacy, which succeeded to 
the power and seat and authority once possessed by the 
ancient Roman Empire. Of the leopard-like beast it is 
declared : " There was given unto him a mouth speaking 
great things and blasphemies. . . . And he opened his 
mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, 
and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. And 
it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to 
overcome them ; and power was given him over all kindreds, 
and tongues, and nations." This prophecy, which is nearly 
identical with the description of the little horn of Daniel 7, 
unquestionably points to the papacy. 

"Power was given unto him to continue forty and two 
months." And, says the prophet, " I saw one of his heads as 
it were wounded to death." And again, " He that leadeth 
into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the 
sword must be killed with the sword." The forty and two 
months are the same as the " time and times and the divid- 
ing of time," three years and a half, or 1260 days, of Daniel 
7, — the time during which the papal power was to oppress 
God's people. This period, as stated in preceding chapters, 
began with the establishment of the papacy, a. d. 538, and 
terminated in 1798. At that time, when the papacy was 
abolished and the pope made captive by the French army, 
the papal power received its deadly wound, and the predic- 
tion w T as fulfilled, " He that leadeth into captivity shall go 
into captivity " 

At this point another symbol is introduced. Says the 
prophet, " I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; 
and he had two horns like a lamb." 2 Both the appearance 
of this beast and the manner of its rise indicate that the 
nation which it represents is unlike those presented under 

1 Verses 1-10. 2 Re v. 13:11. 



440 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

the preceding symbols. The great kingdoms that have 
ruled the world were presented to the prophet Daniel as 
beasts of prey, rising when the " four winds of the heaven 
strove upon the great sea." 1 In Revelation 17, an angel 
explained that waters represent "peoples, and multitudes, 
and nations, and tongues." 2 Winds are a symbol of strife. 
The four winds of heaven striving upon the great sea, repre- 
sent the terrible scenes of conquest and revolution by which 
kingdoms have attained to power. 

But the beast with lamb-like horns was seen " coming up 
out of the earth." Instead of overthrowing other powers to 
establish itself, the nation thus represented must arise in 
territory previously unoccupied, and grow up gradually and 
peacefully. It could not, then, arise among the crowded 
and struggling nationalities of the Old World, — that turbu- 
lent sea of "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and 
tongues." It must be sought in the Western Continent. 

What nation of the New World was in 1798 rising into 
power, giving promise of strength and greatness, and attract- 
ing the attention of the world? The application of the 
symbol admits of no question. One nation, and only one, 
meets the specification's of this prophecy; it points unmis- 
takably to the United States of America. Again and again 
the thought, almost the exact words, of the sacred writer 
have been unconsciously employed by the orator and the 
historian in describing the rise and growth of this nation. 
The beast was seen "coming up out of the earth;" and, 
according to the translators, the word here rendered " com- 
ing up" literally signifies to "grow or spring up as a 
plant." And, as we have seen, the nation must arise in 
territory previously unoccupied. A prominent writer, de- 
scribing the rise of the United States, speaks of "the mystery 
of her coming forth from vacancy" and says, " Like a silent 
we grew into empire." 3 A European journal in 1850 

i Dan. 7:2. 2 Rev. 17 : 15. 

3 Townsend, in " The New World Compared with the Old," p. 462. 



G OB'S LA W IMMUTABL E. 441 

spoke of the United States as a wonderful empire, which was 
"emerging," and "amid the silence of the earth daily adding 
to its power and pride." 1 Edward Everett, in an oration on 
the Pilgrim founders of this nation, said: "Did they look 
for a retired spot, inoffensive from its obscurity, safe in 
its remoteness from the haunts of despots, where the little 
church of Leyden might enjoy freedom of conscience? 
Behold the mighty regions over which, in peaceful conquest, 
. . . they have borne the banners of the cross." 

"And he had two horns like a lamb." The lamb-like 
horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly repre- 
senting the character of the United States when presented 
to the prophet as "coming up" in 1798. The Christian 
exiles who first fled to America, sought an asylum from royal 
oppression and priestly intolerance, and they determined to 
establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil 
and religious liberty. The Declaration of Independence 
sets forth the great truth that " all men are created equal," 
and endowed with the inalienable right to "life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness." "And the Constitution guar- 
antees to the people the right of self-government, providing 
that representatives elected by the popular vote shall 
enact and administer the laws. Freedom of religious faith 
was also granted, every man being permitted to worship 
God according to the dictates of his conscience.! Republican- 
ism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles 
of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power 
and prosperity. The oppressed and down-trodden through- 
out Christendom have turned to this land with interest and 
hope. Millions have sought its shores, and the United 
States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations 
of the earth. 

But the beast with lamb-like horns "spake as a dragon. 
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, 
and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to 
worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed, . 

32 1 The Dublin NafAoii. 



442 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

. . saying to their that dwell on the earth, that they 
should make an image to the beast, which had the wound 
by a sword, and did live." 1 

The lamb-like horns and dragon voice of the symbol 
point to a striking contradiction between the professions and 
the practice of the nation thus represented. The " speaking " 
of the nation is the action of its legislative and judicial 
authorities. By such action it will give the lie to those .lib- 
eral and peaceful principles which it has put forth as the 
foundation of its policy. The prediction that it will speak 
"as a dragon," and exercise "all the power of the first beast," 
plainly foretells a development of the spirit of intolerance 
and persecution that was manifested by the nations repre- 
sented by the dragon and the leopard-like beast. And the 
statement that the beast with two horns " causeth the earth 
and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast," 
indicates that the authority of this nation is to be exercised 
in enforcing some observance wmich shall be an act of hom- 
age to the papacy. 

Such action would be directly contrary to the principles 
of this government, to the genius of its free institutions, to 
the direct and solemn avowals of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and to the Constitution. The ' founders of the 
nation wisely sought to guard against the employment of 
secular power on the part of the church, with its inevitable 
result — intolerance and persecution. The Constitution pro- 
vides that " Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- 
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," 
and that "no religious test shall ever be required as a quali- 
fication to any office of public trust under the United States." 
Only in flagrant violation of these safeguards to the nation's 
liberty, can any religious observance be enforced by civil 
authority. But the inconsistency of such action is no greater 
than is represented in the symbol. It is the beast with 
lamb-like horns — in profession pure, gentle, and harmless — 
that speaks as a dragon. 

iRev. 13:11-14. 



GOD'S LAW IMMUTABLE. 443 



"Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should 
make an image to the beast." Here is clearly presented a 
form of government in which the legislative power rests with 
the people; a most striking evidence that the United States 
is the nation denoted in the prophecy. 

But what is the "image to the beast"? and how is it to be 
formed? The image is made by the two-horned beast, and 
is an image to the first beast. It is also called an image of the 
beast. Then to learn what the image is like, and how it is to 
be formed, we must study the characteristics of the beast itself, 
— the papacy. 'When the early church became corrupted by 
departing from the simplicity of the gospel, and accepting 
heathen rites and customs, she lost the Spirit and power of 
God ; and in order to control the consciences of the people she 
sought the support of the secular power. The result was the 
papacy, a church that controlled the power of the State, and 
employed it to further her own ends, especially for the pun- 
ishment of " heresy." In order for the United States to form 
an image of the beast, the religious pow T er must so control 
the civil government that the authority of the State will 
also be employed by the church to accomplish her own 
ends. 

Whenever the church has obtained, secular power, she has 
employed it to punish dissent from her doctrines. Protest- 
ant churches that have followed in the steps of Rome by 
forming alliance with worldly powers, have manifested a 
similar desire to restrict liberty of conscience. An example 
of this is given in the long-continued persecution of dis- 
senters by the Church of England. During the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries, thousands of non-conformist 
ministers were forced to leave their churches, and many, 
both of pastors and people, Avere subjected to fine, imprison- 
ment, torture, and martyrdom. 

It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of 
the civil government, and this prepared the way for the devel- 
opment of the papacy, — the beast. Said Paul, There shall 



444 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

"come a falling away, . . . and that man of sin be 
revealed." 1 So apostasy in the church will prepare the way 
for the image to the beast. And the Bible declares that 
before the coming of the Lord there will exist a state of 
religious declension similar to that in the first centuries. 
" In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall 
be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blas- 
phemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, with- 
out natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, inconti- 
nent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, 
highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having 
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 2 " Now 
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some 
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, 
and doctrines of devils." 3 Satan will work "with all power 
and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness 
of unrighteousness." And all that "received not the love of 
the truth, that they might be saved," will be left to accept 
"strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." 4 When 
this state of ungodliness shall be reached, the same results 
will follow as in the first centuries. 

The wide diversity of belief in the Protestant churches is 
regarded by many as decisive proof that ho effort to secure 
a forced uniformity can ever be made. But there has been 
for years, in churches of the Protestant faith, a strong and 
growing sentiment in favor of a union based upon common 
points of doctrine. To secure such a union, the discussion 
of subjects upon which all were not agreed — however impor- 
tant they might be from a Bible standpoint- — must necessa- 
rily be waived. 

Charles Beecher, in a sermon in the year 1846, declared 
that the ministry of " the evangelical Protestant denomina- 
tions " is "not only formed all the way up under a tremen- 
dous pressure of merel}; human fear, but they live, and 
move, and breathe in a state of things radically corrupt, and 

^iThess. 2:3. 2 2Tim. 3:1-5. 3 1 Tim. 4 : 1. 4 2 Thess. 2 -.9-11. 



GOD'S LAW IMMUTABLE. 445 

appealing every hour to every baser element of their nature 
to hush up the truth, and bow the knee to the power of apos- 
tasy. Was not this the way things went with Rome? Are 
we not living her life over again? And what do we see just 
ahead? — Another general council! A world's convention! 
evangelical alliance, and universal creed!" When this shall 
be gained, then, in the effort to secure complete uniformity, 
it will be only a step to the resort to force. 
s When the leading churches of the United States, uniting 
upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in com- 
mon, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and 
to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will 
have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the 
infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably 
result. 

The beast with two horns " causeth [commands] all, both 
small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a 
mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads ; and that 
no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or 
the name of the beast, or the number of his name." l The 
third angel's warning is, " If any man worship the beast 
and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in 
his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of 
God." " The beast " mentioned in this message, whose 
worship is enforced by the two-horned beast, is the first, 
or leo]Dard-like beast of Revelation 13, — the papacy. The 
" image to the beast" represents that form of apostate Prot- 
estantism which will be developed when the Protestant 
churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the en- 
forcement of their dogmas. The " mark of the beast " still 
remains to be defined. 

After the warning against the worship of the beast and 
his image, the prophecy declares, " Here are they that keep 
the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Since 
those who keep God's commandments are thus placed in 
contrast with those that worship the beast and his image 
!Eev. 13 :16, 17. 



446 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

and receive his mark, it follows that the keeping of God's 
law, on the one hand, and its violation, on the other, will 
make the distinction between the worshipers of God and 
the worshipers of the beast. 

The special characteristic of the beast, and therefore of 
his image, is the breaking of God's commandments. Says 
Daniel, of the little horn, the papacy, "He shall think to 
change the times and the law." l And Paul styled the same 
power the "man of sin," who was to exalt himself above 
God. One prophecy is a complement of the other. Only 
by changing God's law could the papacy exalt itself above 
God; whoever should understandingly keep the law as thus 
changed would be giving supreme honor to that power by 
which the change was made. Such an act of obedience to 
papal laws would be a mark of allegiance to the pope in the 
place of God. 

The papacy has attempted to change the law of God. 
The second commandment, forbidding image worship, has 
been dropped from the law, and the fourth commandment 
has been so changed as to authorize the observance of the 
first instead of the seventh day as the Sabbath. But papists 
urge, as a reason for omitting the second commandment, 
that it is unnecessary, being included in the first, and that 
they are giving the law exactly as God designed it to be 
understood. This cannot be the change foretold by the 
prophet. An intentional, deliberate change is presented : " He 
shall think to change the times and the law." The change in 
the fourth commandment exactly fulfills the prophecy. 
For this the only authority claimed is that of the church. 
Here the papal power openly sets itself above God. 

While the worshipers of God will be especially distin- 
guished by their regard for the fourth commandment, — 
since this is the sign of his creative power, and the witness 
to his claim upon man's reverence and homage, — the wor- 
shipers of the beast will be distinguished by their efforts to 
tear clown the Creator's memorial, to exalt the institution 

1 Dan. 7 : 25, Revised Version. 



G OP S LA W IMMUTA BLE. 447 

of Rome. It was in behalf of the Sunday, that popery first 
assorted its arrogant claims; 1 and its first resort to the power 
of the State was to compel the observance of Sunday as " the 
Lord's day." But the Bible points to the seventh day, and 
not to the first, as the Lord's day. Said Christ, " The Son 
of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." The fourth com- 
mandment declares, " The seventh day is the Sabbath of the 
Lord." And by the prophet Isaiah the Lord designates it, 
"My holy day." 2 

The claim so often put forth, that Christ changed the 
Sabbath, is disproved by his own words. In his sermon on 
the mount he said : " Think not that I am come to 
destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, 
but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and 
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from 
the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break 
one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, 
he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven ; but 
whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called 
great in the kingdom of Heaven." 3 

It is. a fact generally admitted by Protestants, that the 
Scriptures give no authority for the change of the Sab- 
bath. This is plainly stated in publications issued by the 
American Tract Society and the American Sunday-school 
Union. One of these works acknowledges "the complete 
silence of the New Testament so far as any explicit com- 
mand for the Sabbath [Sunday, the first day of the week] 
or definite rules for its observance are concerned."* 

Another says: " Up to the time of Christ's death, no change 
had been made in the day; " and, " so far as the record shows, 
they [the apostles] did not give any explicit command en- 
joining the abandonment of the seventh-day Sabbath, and 
its observance on the first day of the week." 

1 See Appendix, Note 9. 2 Mark2 : 28; Isa. 58 : 13. 3 Matt. 5 : 17-19. 

4 "The Abiding Sabbath," p. 184, a .$500 prize essay. 

5 " The Lord's Day," pp. 185, 186, a $1,000 prize essay. 



448 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Roman Catholics acknowledge that the change of the Sab- 
bath was made by their church, and declare that Protestants, 
by observing the Sunday, are recognizing her power. In the 
" Catholic Catechism of Christian Religion," in answer to a 
question as to the day to be observed in obedience to the 
fourth commandment, this statement is made : " During the 
old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the church, 
instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of God, 
has substituted Sunday for Saturday ; so now we sanctify the 
first, not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the 
day of the Lord." 

As the sign of the authority of the Catholic Church, papist 
writers cite "the very act of changing the Sabbath into 
Sunday, which Protestants allow of . . . because by 
keeping Sunday strictly they acknowledge the church's 
power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin." 1 
What then is the change of the Sabbath, but the sign or 
mark of the authority of the Romish Church — "the mark of 
the beast"? 

The Roman Church has not relinquished her claim to 
supremacy ; and when the world and the Protestant churches 
accept a sabbath of her creating, while they reject the Bible 
Sabbath, they virtually admit this assumption. They may 
claim the authority of tradition and of the Fathers for the 
change; but in so doing they ignore the very principle 
which separates them from Rome, — that " the Bible, and the 
Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." The papist can 
see that they are deceiving themselves, willingly closing 
their eyes to the facts in the case. As the movement for 
Sunday enforcement gains favor, he rejoices, feeling assured 
that it will eventually bring the whole Protestant world 
under the banner of Rome. 

Romanists declare that " the observance of Sunday by the 
Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to 
the authority of the [Catholic] Church." 2 The enforcement 

1 " Abridgment of Christian Doctrine." 

2 " Plain Talk about Protestantism," p 213. 



GOD'S LA W IMMUTABLE. 449 

of Sunday-keeping on the part of Protestant churches is an 
enforcement of the worship of the papacy — of the beast. 
Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth com- 
mandment, choose to observe the false instead of the true 
Sabbath, are thereby paying homage to that power by which 
alone it is commanded. But in the very act of enforcing a 
religious duty by secular power, the churches would them- 
selves form an image to the beast ; hence the enforcement of 
Sunday-keeping in the United States would be an enforce- 
ment of the worship of the beast and his image. 

But Christians of past generations observed the Sunday, 
supposing that in so doing they were keeping the Bible Sab- 
bath ; and there are now true Christians in every church, 
not excepting the Roman Catholic communion, who honestly 
believe that Sunday is the Sabbath of divine appointment. 
God accepts their sincerity of purpose and their integrity 
before him. But when Sunday observance shall be enforced 
by law, and the world shall be enlightened concerning the 
obligation of the true Sabbath, then whoever shall transgress 
the command of God, to obey a precept which has no higher 
authority than that of Rome, will thereby honor popery 
above God. He is paying homage to Rome, and to the 
power which enforces the institution ordained by Rome. 
He is worshiping the beast and his image. As men then 
reject the institution which God has declared to be the sign 
of his authority, and honor in its stead that which Rome has 
chosen as the token of her supremacy, they will thereby 
accept the sign of allegiance to Rome — "the mark of the 
beast." And it is not until the issue is thus plainly set 
before the people, and they are brought to choose between 
the commandments of God and the commandments of men, 
that those who continue in transgression will receive " the 
mark of the beast." 

The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortals is 
contained in the third angel's message. That must be a 
terrible sin which calls down the wrath of God unmingled 



450 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

with mercy. Men are not to be left in darkness concerning 
this important matter; the warning against this sin is to be 
given to the world before the visitation of God's judgments, 
that all may know why they are to be inflicted, and have 
opportunity to escape them. Prophecy declares that the 
first angel would make his announcement to " every nation, 
and kindred, and tongue, and people." The warning of the 
third angel, which forms a part of the same threefold mes- 
sage, is to be no less widespread. It is represented in the 
prophecy as proclaimed with a loud voice, by an angel flying 
in the midst of heaven; and it will command the attention 
of the world. 

In the issue of the contest, all Christendom will be divided 
into two great classes, — those who keep the commandments 
of God and the faith of Jesus, and those who worship the 
beast and his image and receive his mark. Although church 
and State will unite their power to compel " all, both small 
and great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive "the 
mark of the beast," 1 yet the people of God will not receive it. 
The prophet of Patmos beholds "them that had gotten the 
victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, 
and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, 
having the harps of God," and singing the song of Moses and 
the Lamb. 2 

iRev. 13 :16. 2 Rev. 15:2, 3. 



CHAPTER XXVI 



A WORK OF REFORM. 

The work of Sabbath reform to be accomplished in the 
last days is foretold in the prophecy of Isaiah : " Thus saith 
the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice; for my sal- 
vation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 
Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that 
layetli hold on it ; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting 
it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." " The sons 
of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve 
him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, 
every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and 
taketh hold of my covenant ; even them will I bring to my 
holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of 
prayer." x 

These words apply in the Christian age, as is shown by 
the context: "The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts 
of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those 
that are gathered unto him." 2 Here is foreshadowed the 
gathering in of the Gentiles by the gospel. And upon those 
who then honor the Sabbath, a blessing is pronounced. 
Thus the obligation of the fourth commandment extends 
past the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, 
to the time when his servants should preach to all nations 
the message of glad tidings. 

The Lord commands by the same prophet, " Bind up the 
testimony, seal the law among my disciples/' s The seal of 
God's law is found in the fourth commandment. This only, 
of all the ten, brings to view both the name and the title of 

ilsa. 56:1, % 6, 7. 2 Isa. 56 . 8. 3 Isa. 8:16. 

(451) 



452 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



the Lawgiver. It declares him to be the Creator of the 
heavens and the earth, and thus shows his claim to rev- 
erence and worship above all others. Aside from this pre- 
cept, there is nothing in the decalogue to show by whose 
authority the law is given. When the Sabbath was changed 
by the papal power, the seal was taken from the law. The 
disciples of Jesus are called upon to restore it, by exalting 
the Sabbath of the fourth commandment to its rightful 
position as the Creator's memorial and the sign of his 
authority. 

"To the law and to the testimony." While conflicting 
doctrines and theories abound, the law of God is the one 
unerring rule by which all opinions, doctrines, and theories 
are to be tested. Says the prophet, " If they speak not 
according to this word, it is because there is no light in 
them." 1 

Again, the command is given, " Cry aloud, spare not, lift 
up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their 
transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." It is not 
the wicked world, but those whom the Lord designates as 
" my people," that are to be reproved for their transgressions. 
He declares further, " Yet they seek me daily, and delight 
to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and 
forsook not the ordinance of their God." 2 Here is brought 
to view a class who think themselves righteous, and appear 
to manifest great interest in the service of God; but the 
stern and solemn rebuke of the Searcher of hearts proves 
them to be trampling upon the divine precepts. 

The prophet thus points out the ordinance which has 
been forsaken: "Thou shalt raise up the foundations of 
many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer 
of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou 
turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy 
pleasure on my holy day ; and call the Sabbath a delight, 
the holy of the Lord, honorable ; and shalt honor him, not 

^sa. 8:20. 2 Isa. 53:1, 2. 



A WORK OF REFORM. 453 

doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor 
speaking thine own words; then slialt thou delight thyself 
in the Lord." 1 This prophecy also applies in our time. 
The breach was made in the law of God when the Sabbath 
was changed by the Romish power. But the time has come 
for that divine institution to be restored. The breach is to 
be repaired, and the foundation of many generations to be 
raised up. 

Hallowed by the Creator's rest and blessing, the Sabbath 
was kept by Adam in his innocence in holy Eden ; by Adam, 
fallen yet repentant, when he was driven from his happy 
estate. It was kept by all the patriarchs, from Abel to 
righteous Noah, to Abraham, to Jacob. AVhen the chosen 
people were in bondage in Egypt, many, in the midst of 
prevailing idolatry, lost their knowledge of God's law ; but 
when the Lord delivered Israel, he proclaimed his law in 
awful grandeur to the assembled multitude, that they might 
know his will, and fear and obey him forever. 

From that day to the present, the knowledge of God's law 
has been preserved in the earth, and the Sabbath of the 
fourth commandment has been kept. Though the "man of 
sin" succeeded in trampling under foot God's holy day, yet 
even in the period of his supremacy there were, hidden in 
secret places, faithful souls who paid it honor. Since the 
Reformation, there have been some in every generation to 
maintain its observance. Though often in the midst of re- 
proach and persecution, a constant testimony has been borne 
to the perpetuity of the law of God, and the sacred obliga- 
tion of the creation Sabbath. 

These truths, as presented in Revelation 14, in connection 
with the " everlasting gospel," will distinguish the church 
of Christ at the time of his appearing. For as the result of 
the threefold message it is announced, "Here are they that 
keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 
And this message is the last to be given before the coming 

1 Isa. 58 : 12, 13. 



454 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

of the Lord. Immediately following its proclamation, the 
Son of man is seen by the prophet, coming in glory to reap 
the harvest of the earth. 

Those who received the light concerning the sanctuary 
and the immutability of the law of God, were filled with joy 
and wonder, as they saw the beauty and harmony of the 
system of truth that opened to their understanding. They 
desired that the light which appeared to them so precious 
might be imparted to all Christians ; and they could not but 
believe that it would be joyfully accepted. But truths that 
would place them at variance with the world were not wel- 
come to many who claimed to be followers of Christ. Obe- 
dience to the fourth commandment required a sacrifice from 
which the majority drew back. 

As the claims of the Sabbath were presented, many rea- 
soned from the worldling's standpoint. Said they: "We 
have always kept Sunday, our fathers kept it, and many 
good and pious men have died happy while keeping it. 
If they were right, so are we. The keeping of this new 
Sabbath would throw us out of harmony with the world, 
and we would have no influence over them. What can a 
little company keeping the seventh day hope to accomplish 
against all the world who are keeping Sunday?" It was by 
similar arguments that the Jews endeavored to justify their 
rejection of Christ. Their fathers had been accepted of God 
in presenting the sacrificial offerings, and why could not the 
children find salvation in pursuing the same course ? So, in 
the time of Luther, papists reasoned that true Christians had 
died in the Catholic faith, and therefore that religion was 
sufficient for salvation. Such reasoning would prove an 
effectual barrier to all advancement in religious faith or 
practice. 

Many urged that Sunday-keeping had been an established 
doctrine and a widespread custom of the church for many 
centuries. Against this argument it was shown that the 
Sabbath and its observance were more ancient and wide- 



A WORK OF REFORM. 455 

spread, even as old as the world itself, and bearing the sanc- 
tion both of angels and of God. When the foundations of 
the earth were laid, when the morning stars sang together, 
and all the sons of God shouted for joy, then was laid the 
foundation of the Sabbath. 1 Well may this institution de- 
mand our reverence: it Avas ordained by no human author- 
ity, and rests upon no human traditions; it was established 
by the Ancient of days, and commanded by his eternal word. 

As the attention of the people was called to the subject of 
Sabbath reform, popular ministers perverted the Word of 
God, placing such interpretations upon its testimony as 
would best quiet inquiring minds. And those who did not 
search the Scriptures for themselves were content to accept 
conclusions that were in accordance with their desires. By 
argument, sophistry, the traditions of the Fathers, and the 
authority of the church, many endeavored to overthrow the 
truth. Its advocates were driven to their Bibles to defend 
the validity of the fourth commandment. Humble men, 
armed with the Word of truth alone, withstood the attacks 
of men of learning, who, with surprise and anger, found their 
eloquent sophistry powerless against the simple, straightfor- 
ward reasoning of men who were versed in the Scriptures 
rather than in the subtleties of the schools. 

In the absence of Bible testimony in their favor, many 
with unwearying persistence urged, — forgetting how the 
same reasoning had been employed against Christ and his 
apostles, — "Why do not our great men understand this 
Sabbath question ? But few believe as you do. It cannot 
be that you are right, and that all the men of learning in 
the world are wrong." 

To refute such arguments it was needful only to cite the 
teachings of the Scriptures and the history of the Lord's 
dealings with his people in all ages. God works through 
those who hear and obey his voice, those who will, if need 
be, speak unpalatable truths, those who do not fear to re- 
prove popular sins. The reason why he does not oftener 

1 Job 38 : 6, 7; Gen. 2 : 1-3. 



456 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



choose men of learning and high position to lead out in 
reform movements is that they trust to their creeds, theories, 
and theological systems, and feel no need to be taught of 
God. Only those who have a personal connection with the 
Source of wisdom are able to understand or explain the 
Scriptures. Men who have little of the learning of the 
schools are sometimes called to declare the truth, not because 
they are unlearned, but because they are not too self-suffi- 
cient to be taught of God. They learn in the school of 
Christ, and their humility and obedience make them great. 
In committing to them a knowledge of his truth, God con- 
fers upon them an honor, in comparison with which earthly 
honor and human greatness sink into insignificance. 

The majority of Adventists rejected the truths concerning 
the sanctuary and the law of God, and many also renounced 
their faith in the Advent movement, and adopted unsound 
and conflicting views of the prophecies which applied to 
that work. Some were led into the error of repeatedly fixing 
upon a definite time for the coming of Christ. The light 
which was now si lining on the subject of the sanctuary 
would have shown them that no prophetic period extends to 
the second advent; that the exact time of this event is not 
foretold. But, turning from the light, they' continued to set 
time after time for the Lord to come, and as often they were 
disappointed. 

When the Thessalonian church received erroneous views 
concerning the coming of Christ, the apostle Paul counseled 
them to carefully test their hopes and anticipations by the 
Word of God. He cited them to prophecies revealing the 
events to take place before Christ should come, and showed 
that they had no ground to expect him in their day. " Let 
no man deceive you by any means," l are his words of warn- 
ing. Should they indulge expectations that were not sanc- 
tioned by the Scriptures, they would be led to a mistaken 
course of action ; disappointment would expose them to the 
derision of unbelievers, and they would be in danger of 

1 2 Thess. 2 : 3. 



A WORK OF REFORM. 457 

yielding to discouragement, and would be tempted to doubt 
the truths essential for their salvation. The apostle's ad- 
monition to the Thessalonians contains an important lesson 
for those who live in the last days. Many Adventists have 
felt that unless they could fix their faith upon a definite 
time for the Lord's coming, they could not be zealous and 
diligent in the work of preparation. But as their hopes are 
again and again excited, only to be destroyed, their faith 
receives such a shock that it becomes well-nigh impossible 
for them to be impressed by the great truths of prophecy. 
The preaching of a definite time for the Judgment, in the 
giving of the first message, was ordered of God. The com- 
putation of the prophetic periods on which that message 
was based, placing the close of the 2300 days in the autumn 
of 1844, stands without impeachment. The repeated efforts 
to find new dates for the beginning and close of the pro- 
phetic periods, and the unsound reasoning necessary to 
sustain these positions, not only lead minds away from the 
present truth, but throw contempt upon all efforts to explain 
the prophecies. The more frequently a definite time is set 
for the second advent, and the more widely it is taught, the 
better it suits the purposes of Satan. After the time has 
passed, he excites ridicule and contempt of its advocates, 
and thus casts reproach upon the great Advent movement 
of 1843 and 1844. Those who persist in this error will at 
last fix upon a date too far in the future for the coming of 
Christ. Thus they will be led to rest in a false security, and 
many will not be undeceived until it is too late. 

The history of ancient Israel is a striking illustration of 
the past experience of the Adventist body. God led his 
people in the Advent movement, even as he led the children 
of Israel from Egypt. In the great disappointment their 
faith was tested as was that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. 
Had they still trusted to the guiding hand that had been 
with them in their past experience, they would have seen 
of the salvation of God. If all who had labored unitedly 

33 



458 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

in the work in 1844 had received the third angel's message, 
and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord 
would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood 
of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago 
the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned, the 
closing work completed, and Christ would have come for 
the redemption of his people. 

It was not the will of God that Israel should wander forty 
years in the wilderness ; he desired to lead them directly to 
the land of Canaan, and establish them there, a holy, happy 
people. But "they could not enter in because of unbelief." 1 
Because of their backsliding and apostasy, they perished in 
the desert, and others were raised up to enter the promised 
land. In like manner, it was not the will of God that the 
coming of Christ should be so long delayed, and his people 
should remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow. 
But unbelief separated them from God. As they refused to 
do the work which he had appointed them, others were 
raised up to proclaim the message. In mercy to the world, 
Jesus delays his coming, that sinners may have an oppor- 
tunity to hear the warning, and find in him a shelter before 
the wrath of God shall be poured out. 

Now, as in former ages, the presentation of a truth that 
reproves the sins and errors of the times, will excite oppo- 
sition. " Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither 
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." 2 
As men see that they cannot maintain their position by the 
Scriptures, many determine to maintain it at all hazards, 
and with a malicious spirit they assail the character and 
motives of those who stand in defense of unpopular truth. 
It is the same policy which has been pursued in all ages. 
Elijah was declared to be a troubler of Israel, Jeremiah a 
traitor, Paul a polluter of the temple. From that day to 
this, those who would be loyal to truth have been denounced 
as seditious, heretical, or schismatic. Multitudes who are 

1 Heb. 3:19. 2 John 3:20. 



A WORK OF REFORM. 459 

too unbelieving' to accept the sure word of prophecy, will 
receive with unquestioning credulity an accusation against 
those who dare to reprove fashionable sins. This spirit will 
increase more and more. And the Bible plainly teaches 
that a time is approaching when the laws of the State shall 
so conflict with the law of God that whoever would obey all 
the divine precepts must brave reproach and punishment 
as an evil-doer. 

And in view of this, what is the duty of the messenger of 
truth? Shall he conclude that the truth ought not to be 
presented, since often its only effect is to arouse men to evade 
or resist its claims ? No ; he has no more reason for with- 
holding the testimony of God's Word, because it excites oppo- 
sition, than had earlier reformers. The confession of faith 
made by saints and martyrs was recorded for the benefit of 
succeeding generations. Those living examples of holiness 
and steadfast integrity have come down to inspire courage 
in those who are now called to stand as witnesses for God. 
They received grace and truth, not for themselves alone, but 
that, through them, the knowledge of God might enlighten 
the earth. Has God given light to his servants in this gen- 
eration ? Then they should let it shine forth to the world. 

Anciently the Lord declared to one who spoke in his 
name, " The house of Israel will not hearken unto thee ; for 
they will not hearken unto me." Nevertheless he said, 
" Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will 
hear, or whether they will forbear." l To the servant of God 
at this time is the command addressed, " Lift up thy voice 
like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and 
the house of Jacob their sins." 

So far as his opportunities extend, every one who has re- 
ceived the light of truth is under the same solemn and fearful 
responsibility as was the prophet of Israel, to whom the 
word of the Lord came, saying: "Son of man, I have set 
thee a w T atchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou 

Eze. 3:7; 2:7. 



460 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 
When I say unto the wicked, wicked man, thou shalt 
surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from 
his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his 
blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou 
warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not 
turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity ; but thou 
hast delivered thy soul." x 

The great obstacle both to the acceptance and to the pro- 
mulgation of truth, is the fact that it involves inconvenience 
and reproach. This is the only argument against the truth 
which its advocates have never been able to refute. But 
this does not deter the true followers of Christ. These do- 
not wait for truth to become popular. Being convinced of 
their duty, they deliberately accept the cross, with the 
apostle Paul counting that "our light affliction, which is 
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory;" 2 with one of old, "esteeming the 
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in 
Egypt." 3 

Whatever may be their profession, it is only those who 
are world-servers at heart that act from policy rather than 
principle in religious things. We should choose the right 
because it is right, and leave consequences with God. To 
men of principle, faith, and daring, the world is indebted 
for its great reforms. By such men the work of reform for 
this time must be carried forward. 

Thus saith the Lord : " Hearken unto me, ye that know 
righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye 
not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their re- 
vilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, 
and the worm shall eat them like wool ; but my righteous- 
ness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to 
generation." * 

^6.33:7-9. *2 Cor. 4:17. 3 Heb. 11 :26. 4 Isa. 51 : 7, 8. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



MODERN REVIVALS. 

Wherever the Word of God has been faithfully preached, 
results have followed that attested its divine origin. The 
Spirit of God accompanied the message of his servants, and 
the word was with power. Sinners felt their consciences 
quickened. The " light which lighteth every man that com- 
eth into the world," illumined the secret chambers of their 
souls, and the hidden things of darkness were made mani- 
fest. Deep conviction took hold upon their minds and hearts. 
They were convinced of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
judgment to come. They had a sense of the righteousness 
of Jehovah, and felt the terror of appearing, in their guilt 
and uncleanness, before the Searcher of hearts. In anguish 
they cried out, " Who shall deliver me from the body of this 
death?" As the cross of Calvary, with its infinite sacrifice 
for the sins of men, was revealed, they saw that nothing but 
the merits of Christ could suffice to atone for their trans- 
gressions; this alone could reconcile man to God. With 
faith and humility they accepted the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sin of the world. Through the blood of 
Jesus they had " remission of sins that are past." 

These souls brought forth fruit meet for repentance. They 
believed and were baptized, and rose to walk in newness of 
life, — new creatures in Christ Jesus. Not to fashion them- 
selves according to the former lusts, but by the faith of the 
Son of God to follow in his steps, to reflect his character, and 
to purify themselves even as he is pure. The things they 
once hated, they now loved; and the things they once loved, 
they hated. The proud and self-assertive became meek and 

(461) 



462 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

lowly of heart. The vain and supercilious became serious 
and unobtrusive. The profane became reverent, the drunken 
sober, and the profligate pure. The vain fashions of the 
world were laid aside. Christians sought not the " outward 
adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of 
putting on of apparel; but the hidden man of the heart, in 
that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek 
and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great 
price." 1 

Revivals brought deep heart-searching and humility. 
They were characterized by solemn, earnest appeals to the sin- 
ner, by yearning compassion for the purchase of the blood of 
Christ. Men and women prayed and wrestled with God for 
the salvation of souls. The fruits of such revivals were 
seen in souls w r ho shrank not at self-denial and sacrifice, but 
rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer reproach 
and trial for the sake of Christ. Men beheld a transformation 
in the lives of those who had professed the name of Jesus. 
The community was benefited by their influence. They 
gathered with Christ, and sowed to the Spirit, to reap life 
everlasting. 

It could be said of them: "Ye sorrowed to repentance." 
'' For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be 
repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 
For behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly 
sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, wdiat clearing 
of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, 
what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! 
In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this 
matter." 2 

This is the result of the work of the Spirit of God. There 
is no evidence of genuine repentance unless it works reforma- 
tion. If he restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, 
confess his sins, and love God and his fellow-men, the sinner 
may be sure that he has found peace with God. Such were 

l l Pet. 3:3,4. 22 Cor. 7 : 9-11. 



MODERN REVIVALS. 463 

the effects that in former years followed seasons of religious 
awakening. Judged by their fruits, they were known to be 
blessed of God in the salvation of men and the uplifting of 
humanity. 

But many of the revivals of modern times have presented 
a marked contrast to those manifestations of divine grace 
which in earlier days followed the labors of God's servants. 
It is true that a widespread interest is kindled, many profess 
conversion, and there are large accessions to the churches; 
nevertheless the results are not such as to warrant the 
belief that there has been a corresponding increase of real 
spiritual life. The light which flames up for a time soon 
dies out, leaving the darkness more dense than before. 

Popular revivals are too often carried by appeals to the 
imagination, by exciting the emotions, by gratifying the love 
for what is new and startling. Converts thus gained have 
little desire to listen to Bible truth, little interest in the testi- 
mony of prophets and apostles. Unless a religious service 
has something of a sensational character, it has no attractions 
for them. A message which appeals to unimpassioned rea- 
son, awakens no response. The plain warnings of God's 
Word, relating directly to their eternal interests, are unheeded. 

With every truly converted soul the relation to God and 
to eternal things will be the great topic of life. But where, 
in the popular churches of to-day, is the spirit of consecra- 
tion to God? The converts do not renounce their pride, and 
love of the world. They are no more willing to deny self, to 
take up the cross, and follow the meek and lowly Jesus, than 
before their conversion. Religion has become the sport of 
infidels and skeptics because so many who bear its name 
are ignorant of its principles. The power of godliness has 
well-nigh departed from many of the churches. Picnics, 
church theatricals, church fairs, fine houses, personal display, 
have banished thoughts of God. Lands and goods and worldly 
occupations engross the mind, and things of eternal interest 
receive hardly a passing notice. 



464 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Notwithstanding the widespread declension of faith and 
piety, there are true followers of Christ in these churches. 
Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the 
earth, there will be, among the people of the Lord, such a 
revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed 
since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be 
poured out upon his children. At that time many will 
separate themselves from those churches in which the love 
of this world has supplanted love for God and his Word. 
Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those 
great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this 
time, to prepare a people for the Lord's second coming. The 
enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the 
time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to 
prevent it, by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches 
which he can bring under his deceptive power, he will make 
it appear that God's special blessing is poured out; there 
will be manifest what is thought to be great religious in- 
terest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvel- 
ously for them, when the work is that of another spirit. 
Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his in- 
fluence over the Christian world. 

In many of the revivals which have occurred during the 
last half century, the same influences have been at work, to 
a greater or less degree, that will be manifest in the more 
extensive movements of the future. There is an emotional 
excitement, a mingling of the true with the false, that is 
well adapted to mislead. Yet none need be deceived. In 
the light of God's Word it is not difficult to determine the 
nature of these movements. Wherever men neglect the 
testimony of the Bible, turning away from those plain, soul- 
testing truths which require self-denial and renunciation of 
the world, there we may be sure that God's blessing is not 
bestowed. And by the rule which Christ himself has given, 
"Ye shall know them by their fruits," 1 it is evident that 
these movements are not the work of the Spirit of God. 

1 Matt. 7:16. 



MODERN REVIVALS. 465 

In the truths of his Word, God has given to men a reve- 
lation of himself; and to all who accept them they are a 
shield against the deceptions of Satan. It is a neglect of 
these truths that has opened the door to the evils which are 
now becoming so widespread in the religious world. The 
nature and the importance of the law of God have been, to 
a great extent, lost sight of. A wrong conception of the 
character, the perpetuity, and obligation of the divine law 
has led to errors in relation to conversion and sanctiflcation, 
and has resulted in lowering the standard of piety in the 
church. Here is to be found the secret of the lack of the 
Spirit and power of God in the revivals of our time. 

There are, in the various denominations, men eminent 
for their piety, by whom this fact is acknowledged and de- 
plored. Prof. Edward Park, in setting forth the current 
religious perils, ably says: "One source of danger is the 
neglect of the pulpit to enforce the divine law. In former 
days the pulpit was an echo of the voice of conscience. . . 
Our most illustrious preachers gave a wonderful majesty to 
their discourses by following the example of the Master, and 
giving prominence to the law, its precepts, and its threat- 
enings. They repeated the two great maxims, that the law 
is a transcript of the divine perfections, and that a man who 
does not love the law does not love the gospel; for the law, 
as well as the gospel, is a mirror reflecting the true char- 
acter of God. This peril leads to another, that of under- 
rating the evil of sin, the extent of it, the demerit of it. In 
proportion to the rightfulness of the commandment is the 
wrongfulness of disobeying it." 

" Affiliated to the dangers already named is the danger 
of underestimating the justice of God. The tendency of 
the modern pulpit is to strain out the divine justice from 
the divine benevolence, to sink benevolence into a sentiment 
rather than exalt it into a principle. The new theological 
prism puts asunder what God has joined together. Is the 
divine law a good or an evil? It is a good. Then justice 



466 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

is good; for it is a disposition to execute the law. From the 
habit of underrating the divine law and justice, the extent 
and demerit of human disobedience, men easily slide into 
the habit of underestimating the grace which has provided 
an atonement for sin." Thus the gospel loses its value and 
importance in the minds of men, and soon they are ready 
to practically cast aside the Bible itself. 

Many religious teachers assert that Christ by his death 
abolished the law, and men are henceforth free from its 
requirements. There are some who represent it as a grievous 
yoke, and in contrast to the bondage of the law, they present 
the liberty to be enjoyed under the gospel. 

But not so did prophets and apostles regard the holy law 
of God. Said David, " I will walk at liberty; for I seek thy 
precepts." l The apostle James, who wrote after the death 
of Christ, refers to the decalogue as the " royal law," and the 
" perfect law of liberty." 2 And the Revelator, half a century 
after the crucifixion, pronounces a blessing upon them " that 
do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree 
of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." 3 

The claim that Christ by his death abolished his Father's 
law, is without foundation. Had it been possible for the 
law to be changed or set aside, then Christ 'need not have 
died to save man from the penalty of sin. The death of 
Christ, so far from abolishing the law, proves that it is im- 
mutable. The Son of God came to " magnify the law, and 
make it honorable." 4 He said, " Think not that I am come 
to destroy the law;" "till heaven and earth pass, one jot or 
one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law." 5 And con- 
cerning himself he declares, " I delight to do thy will, my 
God; yea, thy law is within my heart." 6 

The law of God, from its very nature, is unchangeable. 
It is a revelation of the will and the character of its Author. 
God is love, and his law is love. Its two great principles 

J Ps. 119:45. 2 James2:8; 1 :25. 3 Rev.22:14. 

* Isa. 42 : 21. * Matt. 5 : 17. 18. 6 Ps. 40 : 8. 



MODERN REVIVALS. 467 

are love to God and man. " Love is the fulfilling of the 
law." 1 The character of God is righteousness and truth; 
such is the nature of his law. Says the psalmist, " Thy law 
is the truth;" "all thy commandments are righteousness." 2 
And the apostle Paul declares, " The law is holy, and the 
commandment holy, and just, and good." 3 Such a law, 
being an expression of the mind and will of God, must be 
as enduring as its Author. 

It is the work of conversion and sanctification to reconcile 
men to God, by bringing them into accord with the princi- 
ples of his law. In the beginning, man was created in the 
image of God. He was in perfect harmony with the nature 
and the law of God; the principles of righteousness were 
written upon his heart. But sin alienated him from his 
Maker. He no longer reflected the divine image. His heart 
was at war with the principles of God's law. " The carnal 
mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law 
of God, neither indeed can be." 4 But "God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son," that man might 
be reconciled to God. Through the merits of Christ he can 
be restored to harmony with his Maker. His heart must 
be renewed by divine grace, he must have a new life from 
above. This change is the new birth, without which, says 
Jesus, " he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

The first step in reconcilation to God, is the conviction of 
sin. " Sin is the transgression of the law." " By the law is 
the knowledge of sin." 5 In order to see his guilt, the sinner 
must test his character by God's great standard of righteous- 
ness. It is a mirror which shows the perfection of a righteous 
character, and enables him to discern the defects in his own. 

The law reveals to man his sins, but it provides no remedy. 
While it promises life to the obedient, it declares that 
death is the portion of the transgressor. The gospel of 
Christ alone can free him from the condemnation or the defile- 

i Rom. 13:10. 2 Ps. 119:142, 172. 3 Rom. 7:12. 

i Rom. 8:7. 5 1 John 3:4; Rom. 3 : 20. 



463 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

ment of sin. He must exercise repentance toward God, 
whose law has been transgressed, and faith in Christ, his 
atoning sacrifice. Thus he obtains " remission of sins that 
are past," and becomes a partaker of the divine nature. He 
is a child of God, having received the spirit of adoption, 
whereby he cries, " Abba, Father! " 

Is he now free to transgress God's law? Says Paul: " Do 
we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; 
yea, we establish the law." " How shall we, that are dead to 
sin, live any longer therein ? " And John declares, " This is 
the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his 
commandments are not grievous." 1 In the new birth the 
heart is brought into harmony with God, as it is brought 
into accord with his law. When this mighty change has 
taken place in the sinner, he has passed from death unto 
life, from sin unto holiness, from transgression and rebellion 
to obedience and loyalty. The old life of alienation from 
God has ended ; the new life of reconciliation, of faith and 
love, has begun. Then "the righteousness of the law" will 
" be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after 
the Spirit." 2 And the language of the soul will be, " 
Low love I thy law ! it is my meditation all the day." 3 

" The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." 4 
Without the law, men have no just conception of the purity 
and holiness of God, or of their own guilt and uncleanness. 
They have no true conviction of sin, and feel no need of 
repentance. Not seeing their lost condition as violators of 
God's law, they do not realize their need of the atoning 
blood of Christ. The hope of salvation is accepted without 
a radical change of heart or reformation of life. Thus super- 
ficial conversions abound, and multitudes are joined to the 
church who have never been united to Christ. 

Erroneous theories of sanctification, also, springing from 
neglect or rejection of the divine law, have a prominent 

1 Rom. 3 : 31; C : 2; 1 John 5:3. 2 Rom. 8 : 4. 

3 Ps. 119:97. 4 P*. 19:7. 



MODERN REVIVALS. 469' 



place in the religious movements of the day. These theories 
are both false in doctrine, and dangerous in practical results ; 
and the fact that they are so generally finding favor renders 
it doubly essential that all have a clear understanding of 
what the Scriptures teach upon this point. 

True sanctification is a Bible doctrine. The apostle Paul, 
in his letter to the Thessalonian church, declares, " This is 
the will of God, even your sanctification." And he prays, 
" The very God of peace sanctify you wholly." 1 The Bible 
clearly teaches what sanctification is, and how it is to be 
attained. The Saviour prayed for his disciples, "Sanctify 
them through thy truth; thy Word is truth." 2 And Paul 
teaches that believers are to be " sanctified by the Holy 
Ghost." 3 What is the work of the Holy Spirit? Jesus told 
his disciples, " When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will 
guide you into all truth." 4 And the psalmist says, " Thy 
law is the truth." By the Word and the Spirit of God are 
opened to men the great principles of righteousness embodied 
in his law. And since the law of God is " holy, and just,, 
and good," a transcript of the divine perfection, it follows 
that a character formed by obedience to that law will be 
holy. Christ is a perfect example of such a character. He 
says, " I have kept my Father's commandments." " I do 
always those things that please him." 5 The followers of 
Christ are to become like him, — by the grace of God, to 
form characters in harmony with the principles of his holy 
law. This is Bible sanctification. 

This work can be accomplished only through faith in 
Christ, by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God. Paul 
admonishes believers, " Work out your own salvation with 
fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you 
both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 6 The Christian 
will feel the promptings of sin, but he will maintain a con- 
stant warfare against it. Here is where Christ's help is 

1 1 Thess. 4 : 3; 5 : 23. * John 17 : 17, 19. 3 Rom. 15:16. 

* John 16 : 13. 5 John 15 : 10; 8 : 29. 6 Phil. 2 : 12, 13. 



47m the great controversy. 

needed. Human weakness becomes united to divine 
strength, and faith exclaims. "Thanks be to God, which 
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. " : 

The Scriptures plainly show that the work of sanctifi- 
cation is progressive. When in conversion the sinner finds 
peace with God through the blood of the atonement, the 
Christian life has but just begun. Now he is _ :■ on unto 

perfection;" to grow up "unto the measure of the stature 
of the fullness of Christ." Says the apostle Paul: " This one 
thing I do. forgetting those things which are behind, and 
reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press 
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
Christ Jesus.'" 2 And Peter sets before us the steps by which 
Bible sanctification is to be attained: "Giving all diligence. 
add to your faith virtue; and to "irtue knowledge; and to 
knowledge temperance: and to temperance patience: and to 
patience godliness: and to godliness brotherly kindness: 
and to brotherly kindness charity. ... If ye do these 
things, ye shall never fall.*" 3 

Those who experience the sanctification of the Bible will 
manifest a spirit of humility. Like Moses, they have had 
a view of the awful majesty of holiness, and they see their 
own unworthiness. in contrast with the purity and exalted 
perfection of the Infinite One. 

The prophet Daniel was an example of true sanctification. 
His long life was filled up with noble service for his Master. 
He was -a man "greatly beloved "* of Heaven. Yet instead 
of claiming to be pure and holy, this honored prophet iden- 
tified himself with the really sinful of Israel, as he pleaded 
before God in behalf of his people: " AVe do not present our 
supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy 
great mercie-." " We have sinned, we have done wickedly."' 
He declares, "I was speaking, and praying, and confessing 
my sin and the sin of my people." And when at a later 
time the Son of God appeared, to give him instruction, he 

1 1 Cor. 15 : 57. : Phil. 3 : 13, 14. ; 2 Pet. 1 : 5-10. - Dan. 10 ; 11. 



JtODERX REYIT. 

declares, "Mj comeliness was tanned in me into eoirnp&ion, 
and I retained no strength/" ~ 

When Job heard the voice of the Loid out of the whirl- 
wind, he exclaimed, ~I abhor myself, and repent in dust 

and ashes."" 2 It was when Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, 
and heard the cherobini crying, " Holy. holy, holy, is the 
Lord of hosss.~ that he cried out, ° Woe is me! fa* I am 
m&done."' 3 PanL after he was caught np into the third 

heaven, and heard things which it was not possible for a 
man to niter, speaks of himself as - less than the least of 
all saints." * It was the beloved John, that leaned on Jes - 
breast, and beheld his glory, who feffl as one dead beJbre the 
feel •ftheangelf 

There can be no self-exaltation, no boastfbl claim to 
±T-rlom from sin. on the part of those who walk in the 
j&adow of Calvary's cross. They feel that it was their sin 
which caused the agony that broke the heart of the £on of 
God. and this thought will lead them to selfabasement. 
Those who live nearest to Jeses discern most clearly the 
frailty and ismfelness of hnmaniiy. and their only hoi 
in the merit of a erocined and risen Saviour. 

lliesanctification now gaining commence in the religions 
world, carries wkh it a spirit of s^Iz-exahation, and a dis- 
regard lor the law of God, that mark it as loreign to the 
religion of the Bible. Its advocates teach that sanctincation 
is an instantaneons work, by which, through laith alone, 
they attain to perfect holin - ** Only believe." say they. 
^and the blessing is yonrs"" ^To farther effiwt on the part 
of the recerrer is sn^ic»sed to be reqnired. At the same time , 
they deny the amhoriiy of the law of God, urging that they 
are released from obligation to keep the commandments. 
Bnt is it possible fbr men to be holy, in accord with the will 
and character of God, without coming into harmony with 
the principles which are an expression of his nature and 
wML and which show what is well-pleasing to him? 



472 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

The desire for an easy religion, that requires no striving, 
no self-denial, no divorce from the follies of the world, has 
made the doctrine of faith, and faith only, a popular doc- 
trine; but what saith the Word of God? Says the apostle 
James : " What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man 
say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save 
him? . . . Wilt thou know, vain man, that faith 
without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father 
justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon 
the altar ? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, 
and by works was faith made perfect ? . . . Ye see then 
how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." l 

The testimony of the Word of God is against this ensnar- 
ing doctrine of faith without works. It is not faith that 
claims the favor of Heaven without complying with the 
conditions upon which mercy is to be granted. It is pre- 
sumption ; for genuine faith has its foundation in the prom- 
ises and provisions of the Scriptures. 

Let none deceive themselves with the belief that they can 
become holy while willfully violating one of God's require- 
ments. The commission of a known sin silences the wit- 
nessing voice of the Spirit, and separates the soul from 
God. " Sin is the transgression of the law." ' And " whoso- 
ever sinneth [transgresseth the law] hath not seen him, 
neither known him." 2 Though John in his epistles dwells 
so fully upon love, yet he does not hesitate to reveal the true 
character of that class who claim to be sanctified while 
living in transgression of the law of God. " He that saith, 
I know Him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, 
and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, 
in him verily is the love of God perfected." 3 Here is the 
test of every man's profession. We cannot accord holiness 
to any man without bringing him to the measurement of 
God's only standard of holiness in Heaven and in earth. 
If men feel no weight of the moral law, if they belittle and 

James 2 : 1 4-24. 2 1 John 3:6. 3 1 John 2 : 4, 5. 



MODERN REVIVALS. 473 

make light of God's precepts, if they hreak one of the least 
of these commandments, and teach men so, they shall be of 
no esteem in the sight of Heaven, and we may know that 
their claims are without foundation. 

And the claim to be without sin is, in itself, evidence that 
he who makes this claim is far from holy. It is because he 
has no true conception of the infinite purity and holiness of 
God, or of what they must become who shall be in harmony 
with his character; because he has no true conception of the 
purity and exalted loveliness of Jesus, and the malignity 
and evil of sin, that man can regard himself as holy. The 
greater the distance between himself and Christ, and the 
more inadequate his conceptions of the divine character and 
requirements, the more righteous he appears in his own eyes. 

The sanctification set forth in the Scriptures embraces the 
entire being, — spirit, soul, and body. Paul pra} T ed for the 
Thessalonians, that their "whole spirit and soul and body 
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." l Again he writes to believers, " I beseech you 
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present 
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." 2 
In the time of ancient Israel, every offering brought as a 
sacrifice to God was carefully examined. If any defect was 
discovered in the animal presented, it was refused; for God 
had commanded that the offering be " without blemish." 
So Christians are bidden to present their bodies, " a living 
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." In order to do this, 
all their powers must be preserved in the best possible con- 
dition. Every practice that weakens physical or mental 
strength unfits man for the service of his Creator. And 
will God be pleased with anything less than the best we can 
offer ? Said Christ, " Thou shaft love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart." Those who do love God with all the 
heart, will desire to give him the best service of their life, 
and they will be constantly seeking to bring every power 

1 1 Thess. 5 : 23. ^Eom. 12:1. 

34 



474 THE GREAT COXTROYERSY. 



of their being into harmony with the laws that will promote 
their ability to do his will. They will not, by the indulgence 
of appetite or passion, enfeeble or defile the offering which 
they present to their heavenly Father. 

Says Peter, " Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against 
the soul." x Every sinful gratification tends to benumb the 
faculties and deaden the mental and spiritual perceptions, 
and the Word or the Spirit of God can make but a feeble 
impression upon the heart. Paul writes to the Corinthians, 
" Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and 
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 2 And with 
the fruits of the Spirit. — "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness," — he classes temper- 
ance. 3 

Notwithstanding these inspired declarations, how many 
jDrofessed Christians are enfeebling their powers in the pur- 
suit of gain or the worship of fashion: how many are de- 
basing their godlike manhood by gluttony, by wine-drinking, 
by forbidden pleasure. And the church, instead of rebuking, 
too often encourages the evil by appealing to appetite, to 
desire for gain, or love of i3leasure, to replenish her treasury, 
which love for Christ is too feeble to supply. "Were Jesus 
to enter the churches of to-day. and behold the feasting and 
unholy traffic there conducted in the name of religion, 
would he not drive out those desecrators, as he banished the 
money-changers from the temple ? 

The apostle James declares that the wisdom from above 
is "first pure." Had he encountered those who take the 
precious name of Jesus upon lips defiled by tobacco, those 
whose breath and person are contaminated by its foul odor, 
and who pollute the air of heaven, and force all about them 
to inhale the poison. — had the apostle come in contact with 
a practice so opposed to the purity of the gospel, would he 
not have denounced it as "earthly, sensual, devilish"? 
Slaves of tobacco, claiming the blessing of entire sanctifi- 

1 1 Pet. 2:11. ^2 Cor. 7:1. 3 Gal. 5 : 22, 23. 



MODERN REVIVALS. 475 

cation, talk of.their hope of Heaven; but God's Word plainly 
declares that ''there shall in nowise enter into it anything 
that defileth." 1 

" Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are 
not your own? for ye are bought with a price; therefore 
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are 
God's." 2 He whose body is the temple of the Holy Spirit 
will not be enslaved by a pernicious habit. His powers 
belong to Christ, who has bought him with the price of 
blood. His property is the Lord's. How could he be guilt- 
less in squandering this intrusted capital? Professed Chris- 
tians yearly expend an immense sum upon useless and per- 
nicious indulgences, while souls are perishing for the word 
of life. God is robbed in tithes and offerings, while they 
consume upon the altar of destroying lust more than they 
give to relieve the poor or for the support of the gospel. If 
all who profess to be followers of Christ were truly sanctified, 
their means, instead of being spent for needless and even 
hurtful indulgences, would be turned into the Lord's treasury, 
and Christians would set an example of temperance, self- 
denial, and self-sacrifice. Then they would be the light of 
the world. 

The world is given up to self-indulgence. " The lust of 
the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," control 
the masses of the people. But Christ's followers have a 
holier calling. "Come out from among them, and be ye 
separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean." In 
the light of God's Word we are justified in declaring that 
sanctification cannot be genuine which does not work this 
utter renunciation of the sinful pursuits and gratifications 
of the world. 

To those who comply with the conditions, Come out 
from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the 
unclean, God's promise is, " I will receive you, and will 

1 Rev. 21:27. : 1 Cor. 6 : 19, 20. 



476 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and 
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." \ It is the privilege 
and the duty of every Christian to have a rich and abundant 
experience in the things of God. " I am the light of the 
world," said Jesus. " He that followeth me shall not walk 
in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 2 " The path 
of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and 
more unto the perfect day." 3 Every step of faith and obe- 
dience brings the soul into closer connection with the Light 
of the world, in whom " there is no darkness at all." The 
bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine upon the 
servants of God, and they are to reflect his rays. As the 
stars tell us that there is a great light in Heaven with whose 
glory they are made bright, so Christians are to make it 
manifest that there is a God on the throne of the universe 
whose character is worthy of praise and imitation. The 
graces of his Spirit, the purity and holiness of his character, 
will be manifest in his witnesses. 

Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, sets forth the rich 
blessings granted to the children of God. He says: We 
" do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might- 
be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and 
spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the 
Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,, 
and increasing in the knowledge of God ; strengthened with 
all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience 
and long-suffering with joyfulness." i 

Again he writes of his desire that the brethren at Ephesus 
might come to understand the height of the Christian's 
privilege. He opens before them, in the most comprehensive 
language, the marvelous power and knowledge that they 
might possess as sons and daughters of the Most High. It 
was theirs "to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in 
the inner man," to be "rooted, and grounded in love," to 
" comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and lengthy 

1 2 Cor. 6 : 17, 18. * John 8:12. 3 Prov. 4 : 18. i Col. 1 : 9-11. 



MODERN REVIVALS. 477 

and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which 
passeth knowledge." But the prayer of the apostle reaches 
the climax of privilege when he prays that "ye might be 
filled with all the fullness of God." x 

Here are revealed the heights of attainment that we_may 
reach through faith in the promises of our heavenly Father, 
when we fulfill his requirements. Through the merits of 
Christ, we have access to the throne of infinite power. " He 
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us 
all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" 2 
The Father gave his Spirit without measure to his Son, and 
we also may partake of its fullness. Jesus says : " If ye then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, 
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask him ? " 3 " If ye shall ask anything 
in my name, I will do it," " Ask, and ye shall receive, that 
your joy may be full." i 

While the Christian's life will be characterized by humil- 
ity, it should not be marked with sadness and self-deprecia- 
tion. It is the privilege of every one to so live that God 
will approve and bless him. It is not the will of our heav- 
enly Father that we should be ever under condemnation and 
darkness. There is no evidence of true humility in going 
with the head bowed down and the heart filled with thoughts 
of self. We may go to Jesus and be cleansed, and stand be- 
fore the law without shame and remorse. " There is there- 
fore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ 
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 5 

Through Jesus the fallen sons of Adam become " sons of 
God." " Both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified 
are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call 
them brethren." 6 The Christian's life should be one of 
faith, of victory, and joy in God. " Whatsoever is born of 
God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that over- 

1 Eph. 3 : 16-19. 2 Rom. 8 : 32 . 3 Luke 11:13. 

* John 14:14; 16:24. 5 Rom. 8:1. 6 Heb. 2:11. 



478 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



cometli the world, even our faith." 1 Truly spake God's 
servant Nehemiah, " The joy of the Lord is your strength." ' l 
And says Paul: "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I 
say, Rejoice." "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. 
In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in 
Christ Jesus concerning you." 3 

Such are the fruits of Bible conversion and sanctincation ; 
and it is because the great principles of righteousness set 
forth in the law of God are so indifferently regarded by the 
Christian world, that these fruits are so rarely witnessed. 
This is why there is manifest so little of that deep, abiding 
work of the Spirit of God which marked revivals in former 
years. 

It is by beholding that we become changed. And as those 
sacred precepts in which God has opened to men the perfec- 
tion and holiness of his character are neglected, and the 
minds of the people are attracted to human teachings and 
theories, what marvel that there has followed a decline of 
living piety in the church. Saith the Lord, " They have 
forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them 
out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." * 

" Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 
ungodly. . . . But his delight is in the law of the Lord; 
and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he 
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that 
bringeth forth his fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not 
wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 6 It is 
only as the law of God is restored to its rightful position 
that there can be a revival of primitive faith and godli- 
ness among his professed people. " Thus saith the Lord, 
Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, 
where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find 
rest for your souls." 6 

1 1 John 5:4. 2 Neh. 8:10. 3 Phil. 4 : 4; 1 Thess. 5 : 16-18. 
^Jer. 2:13. 5 Ps. 1:1-3. 6 Jer. 6:16. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT. 

" I beheld," says the prophet Daniel, "till thrones were 
placed, and One that was ancient of days did sit. His rai- 
ment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure 
wool; his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof 
burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from 
before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and 
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the 
Judgment was set, and the books were opened." l 

Thus was presented to the prophet's vision the great and 
solemn day when the characters and the lives of men should 
pass in review before the Judge of all the earth, and to every 
man should be rendered "according to his works." The 
Ancient of days is God the Father. Says the psalmist, 
"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou 
hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting 
to everlasting, thou art God." 2 It is he, the source of all 
being, and the fountain of all law, that is to preside in the 
Judgment. And holy angels, as ministers and witnesses, in 
number " ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands 
of thousands," attend this great tribunal. 

"And, behold, one like the Son of man came with the 
clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of clays, and they 
brought him near before him. And there was given him 
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, 
and languages, should serve him ; his dominion is an ever- 
lasting dominion, which shall not pass away." 3 The coming 
of Christ here described is not his second coming to the 

1 Dan. 7 : 9, 10, Revised Version. 2 Ps. 90 : 2, 3 Dan. 7 : 13, 14. 

(479) 



480 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



earth. He comes to the Ancient of days in Heaven to receive 
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, which will be given 
him at the close of his work as a mediator. It is this com- 
ing, and not his second advent to the earth, that was foretold 
in prophecy to take place at the termination of the 2300 
days, in 1844. Attended by heavenly angels, our great High 
Priest enters the holy of holies, and there appears in the 
presence of God, to engage in the last acts of his ministration 
in behalf of man, — to perform the work of investigative 
Judgment, and to make an atonement for all who are shown 
to be entitled to its benefits. 

In the typical service, only those who had come before 
God with confession and repentance, and whose sins, through 
the blood of the sin-offering, were transferred to the sanct- 
uary, had a part in the service of the day of atonement. So 
in the great day of final atonement and investigative Judg- 
ment, the only cases considered are those of the professed 
people of God. The judgment of the wicked is a distinct 
and separate work, and takes place at a later period. " Judg- 
ment must begin at the house of God; and if it first be- 
gin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the 
gospel?" 1 

The books of record in Heaven, in which the names and 
the deeds of men are registered, are to determine the decis- 
ions of the Judgment. Says the prophet Daniel, " The Judg- 
ment was set, and the books were opened." The Revelator, 
describing the same scene, adds, "Another book was opened, 
which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of 
those things which were written in the books, according to 
their works." ' l 

The book of life contains the names of all who have ever 
entered the service of God. Jesus bade his disciples, " Re- 
joice, because your names are written in Heaven." 3 Paul 
speaks of his faithful fellow-workers, " whose names are in 
the book of life." i Daniel, looking down to " a time of 

1 1 Pet. 4:17. a Rev. 20 : 12. a Luke 10 : 20. 4 Phil. 4 : 3. 



THE INVESTIGA TIVE JUDGMENT. 481 

trouble, such as never was/' declares that God's people shall 
be delivered, "everyone that shall be found written in the 
book." l And the Revelator says that those only shall enter 
the city of God whose names "are written in the Lamb's 
book of life." 2 

" A book of remembrance " is written before God, in which 
are recorded the good deeds of " them that feared the Lord, 
and that thought upon his name." 3 Their words of faith, 
their acts of love, are registered in Heaven. Nehemiah 
refers to this when he says, "Remember me, my God, 
. , . and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done 
for the house of my God." i In the book of God's remem- 
brance every deed of righteousness is immortalized. There 
every temptation resisted, every evil overcome, every word of 
tender pity expressed, is faithfully chronicled. And every 
act of sacrifice, every suffering and sorrow endured for 
Christ's sake, is recorded. Says the psalmist, " Thou tellest 
my wanderings. Put thou my tears into thy bottle; are 
they not in thy book?" 5 

There is a record also of the sins of men. " For God shall 
bring every work into Judgment, with every secret thing, 
whether it be good, or whether it be evil." 6 "Every idle 
word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof 
in the day of Judgment." Said the Saviour, " By thy words 
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be con- 
demned." 7 The secret purposes and motives appear in the 
unerring register; for God "will bring to light the hidden 
things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the 
hearts." 8 "Behold, it is written before me, . . . your 
iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith 
the Lord." 9 

Every man's work passes in review before God, and is 
registered for faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Opposite each 

1 Dan. 12:1 2 Rev. 21 : 27. 3 Mai. 3:16. 

4 Neh. 13:14. 5 Ps. 56 : 8. 6 Eccl. 12 : 14. 

7 Matt. 12 : 36, 37. 8 1 Cor. 4 : 5. 9 Isa. 65 : 6, 7. 



482 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

name in the books of Heaven is entered, with terrible exact- 
ness, every wrong word, every selfish act, every unfulfilled 
duty, and every secret sin, with every artful dissembling. 
Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected, wasted moments, 
unimproved opportunities, the influence exerted for good or 
for evil, with its far-reaching results, all are chronicled by 
the recording angel. 

The law of God is the standard by which the characters 
and the lives of men will be tested in the Judgment. Says 
the wise man: "Fear God, and keep his commandments; 
for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring 
every work into Judgment." 1 The apostle James admon- 
ishes his brethren, " So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall 
be judged by the law of liberty." 2 

Those who in the Judgment are " accounted worthy," will 
have a part in the resurrection of the just. Jesus said, 
"They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that 
world, and the resurrection from the dead, . . . are 
equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being 
the children of the resurrection." 3 And again he declares 
that "they that have done good" shall come forth "unto 
the resurrection of life." * The righteous dead will not be 
raised until after the Judgment at which they are accounted 
worthy of " the resurrection of life." Hence they will not 
be present in person at the tribunal when their records are 
examined, and their cases decided. 

Jesus will appear as their advocate, to plead in their 
behalf before God. " If any man sin, we have an advocate 
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 5 " For Christ 
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which 
are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to 
appear in the presence of God for us." " Wherefore he is 
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God 
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." e 

1 Eccl. 12:13, 14. 2 James 2:12. 3 Luke 20 : 35, 36. 

* John 5: 29. 5 1 John 2 : 1. 6 Heb. 9 : 24; 7 : 25. 



THE TNVESTIGA TIVE JUDGMENT. 483 

As the books of record are opened in the Judgment, the 
lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review 
before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon the 
earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive 
generation, and closes with the living. Every name is 
mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are ac- 
cepted, names rejected. When any have sins remaining 
upon the books of record, unrepented of and unforgiven, 
their names will be blotted out of the book of life, and the 
record of their good deeds will be erased from the book of 
God's remembrance. The Lord declared to Moses, " Who- 
soever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my 
book." 1 And says the prophet Ezekiel, " When the righteous 
turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth in- 
iquity, . . . all his righteousness that he hath done 
shall not be mentioned." 2 

All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed 
the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon 
entered against their names in the books of Heaven; as they 
have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and 
their characters are found to be in harmony with the law 
of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves 
will be accounted worthy of eternal life. The Lord declares, 
by the prophet Isaiah, " I, even I, am he that blotteth out 
thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember 
thy sins." 3 Said Jesus, " He that overcometh, the same 
shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out 
his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name 
before my Father, and before his angels." " Whosoever there- 
fore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also 
before my Father which is in Heaven. But whosoever 
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my 
Father which is in Heaven." A 

The deepest interest manifested among men in the de- 

1 Ex. 32 : 33. ' 2 Eze. ] 8 : 24. 3 i sa . 43 . 05. 

4 Rev. 3:5: Matt. 10:32, 33. 



484 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

visions of earthly tribunals but faintly represents the interest 
evinced in the heavenly courts when the names entered in 
the book of life come up in review before the Judge of all 
the earth. The divine Intercessor presents the plea that all 
who have overcome through faith in his blood be forgiven 
their transgressions, that they be restored to their Eden 
home, and crowned as joint-heirs with himself to the " first 
dominion." 1 Satan, in his efforts to deceive and tempt our 
race, had thought to frustrate the divine plan in man's 
•creation; but Christ now asks that this plan be carried into 
effect, as if man had never fallen. He asks for his people 
not only pardon and justification, full and complete, but a 
share in his glory and a seat upon his throne. 

While Jesus is -pleading for the subjects of his grace, Satan 
accuses them before God as transgressors. The great de- 
ceiver has sought to lead them into skepticism, to cause 
them to lose confidence in God, to separate themselves from 
his love, and to break his law. Now he points to the record 
of their lives, to the defects of character, the unlikeness to 
Ohrist, which has dishonored their Redeemer, to all the sins 
that he has tempted them to commit, and because of these 
he claims them as his subjects. 

Jesus does not excuse their sins, but shows their penitence 
and faith, and, claiming for them forgiveness, he lifts his 
wounded hands before the Father and the holy angels, say- 
ing, " I know them by name. I have graven them on the 
palms of my hands. 'The sacrifices of God are a broken 
spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, God, thou wilt not 
despise.'" 2 And to the accuser of his people he declares, 
"The Lord rebuke thee, Satan; even the Lord that hath 
chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked 
out of the fire?" 3 Christ will clothe his faithful ones with 
his own righteousness, that he may present them to his 
Father "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
any such thing." 4 Their names stand enrolled in the book 

!Micah 4 : S. 2 Ps. 51:17. 3 Zech. 3:2. * Eph. 5:27. 



THE INVESTIGA TIVE JUDGMENT. 485 

of life, and concerning them it is written, "They shall walk 
with me in white; for they are worthy." 1 

Tims will he realized the complete fulfillment of the new- 
covenant promise, " I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
rememher their sin no more." " In those days, and in that 
time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought 
for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and 
they shall not be found." 2 " In that day shall the branch 
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the 
earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped 
of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in 
Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called 
holy, even every one that is written among the living in 
Jerusalem." 3 

The work of the investigative Judgment and the blotting 
out of sins is to be accomplished before the second advent of 
the Lord. Since the dead are to be judged out of the things 
written in the books, it is impossible that the sins of men 
should be blotted out until after the Judgment at which their 
cases are to be investigated. But the apostle Peter distinctly 
states that the sins of believers will be blotted out, "when 
the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ." 4 When the investi- 
gative Judgment closes, Christ will come, and his reward is 
with him to give to every man as his work shall be. 

In the typical service the high priest, having made the 
atonement for Israel, came forth and blessed the congregation. 
So Christ, at the close of his work as a mediator, will appear,, 
"without sin unto salvation," 5 to bless his waiting people 
with eternal life. As the priest, in removing the sins from 
the sanctuary, confessed them upon the head of the scape- 
goat, so Christ will place all these sins upon Satan, the orig- 
inator and instigator of sin. The scape-goat, bearing the 
sins of Israel, was sent away " unto a land not inhabited ; " 6 
so Satan, bearing the guilt of all the sins which he has 

1 Rev. 3:4. 2 Jer. 31 : 34; 50 :20. 3 Isa.4:2, 3. 

*Acts3 : 19, 20. 5 Heb. 9 :28. 6 Lev. 16 : 22. 



486 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

caused God's people to commit, will be for a thousand years 
confined to the earth, which will then be desolate, without 
inhabitant, and he will at last suffer the full penalty of 
sin, in the fires that shall destroy all the wicked. Thus 
the great plan of redemption will reach its accomplishment 
in the final eradication of sin, and the deliverance of all 
who have been willing to renounce evil. 

At the time appointed for the Judgment — the close of the 
2300 days, in 1844 — began the work of investigation and 
blotting out of sins. All who have ever taken upon them- 
selves the name of Christ must pass its searching scrutiny. 
Both the living and the dead are to be judged " out of those 
things which were written in the books, according to their 
works." 

Sins that have not been repented of and forsaken will not 
be pardoned, and blotted out of the books of record, but will 
stand to witness against the sinner in the day of God. He 
may have committed his evil deeds in the light of day or in 
the darkness of night; but they were open and manifest 
before Him with whom we have to do. Angels of God wit- 
nessed each sin, and registered it in the unerring records. 
Sin may be concealed, denied, covered up from father, mother, 
wife, .children, and associates. No one but the guilty actors 
may cherish the least suspicion of the wrong; but it is laid 
bare before the intelligences of Heaven. The darkness of 
the darkest night, the secrecy of all deceptive arts, is not 
sufficient to veil one thought from the knowledge of the 
Eternal. God has an exact record of every unjust account 
and every unfair dealing. He is not deceived by appear- 
ances of piety. He makes no mistakes in his estimation of 
character. Men may be deceived by those who are corrupt 
in heart, but God pierces all disguises, and reads the inner 
life. 

How solemn is the thought! Day after day, passing into 
eternity, bears its burden of records for the books of Heaven. 
Words once spoken, deeds once done, can never be recalled. 



THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT. 487 

Angels have registered both the good and the evil. The 
mightiest conqueror upon the earth cannot call back the 
record of even a single day. Our acts, our words, even our 
most secret motives, all have their weight in deciding our 
destiny for weal or woe. Though they may be forgotten by 
us, they will bear their testimony to justify or to condemn. 

As the features of the countenance are reproduced with 
unerring accuracy on the polished plate of the artist, so the 
character is faithfully delineated in the books above. Yet 
how little solicitude is felt concerning that record which is to 
meet the gaze of heavenly beings. Could the veil which 
separates the visible from the invisible world be swept back, 
and the children of men behold an angel recording every 
word and deed, which they must meet again in the Judg- 
ment, how many words that are daily uttered would remain 
unspoken; how many deeds would remain undone. 

In the Judgment, the use made of every talent will be 
scrutinized. How have we employed the capital lent us of 
Heaven? Will the Lord at his coming receive his own with 
usury? Have we improved the powers intrusted us, in hand 
and heart and brain, to the glory of God and the blessing of 
the world? How have we used our time, our pen, our voice, 
our money, our influence? What have we done for Christ, 
in the person of the poor, the afflicted, the orphan, or the 
widow? God has made us the depositary of his holy Word; 
what have we done with the light and truth given us to 
make men wise unto salvation? No value is attached to a 
mere profession of faith in Christ; only the love which is 
shown by works is counted genuine. Yet it is love alone 
which in the sight of Heaven makes any act of value. 
Whatever is done from love, however small it may appear 
in the estimation of men, is accepted and rewarded of God. 

The hidden selfishness of men stands revealed in the 
books of Heaven. There is the record of unfulfilled duties 
to their fellow-men, of forgetfulness of the Saviour's claims. 
There they will see how often were given to Satan the time, 



488 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

thought, and strength that belonged to Christ. Sad is the 
record which angels bear to Heaven. Intelligent beings, 
professed followers of Christ, are absorbed in the acquire- 
ment of worldly possessions, or the enjoyment of earthly 
pleasures. Money, time, and strength are sacrificed for dis- 
play and self-indulgence; but few are the moments devoted 
to prayer, to the searching of the Scriptures, to humiliation 
of soul and confession of sin. 

Satan invents unnumbered schemes to occupy our minds 
that they may not dwell upon the very work with which we 
ought to be best acquainted. The arch-deceiver hates the 
great truths that bring to view an atoning sacrifice and an 
all-powerful Mediator. He knows that with him everything 
depends on his diverting minds from Jesus and his truth. 

Those who would share the benefits of the Saviour's 
mediation should permit nothing to interfere with their 
duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God. The precious 
hours, instead of being given to pleasure, to display, or to 
gain-seeking, should be devoted to an earnest, prayerful 
study of the Word of truth. The subject of the sanctuary 
and the investigative Judgment should be clearly under- 
stood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for 
themselves of the position and work of their great High 
Priest. Otherwise, it will be impossible for them to exercise 
the faith which is essential at this time, or to occupy the 
position which God designs them to fill. Every individual 
has a soul to save or to lose. Each has a case pending at 
the bar of God. Each must meet the great Judge face to 
face. How important, then, that every mind contemplate 
often the solemn scene when the Judgment shall sit and 
the books shall be opened, when, with Daniel, every indi- 
vidual must stand in his lot, at the end of the days. 

All who have received the light upon these subjects are 
to bear testimony of the great truths which God has com- 
mitted to them. The sanctuary in Heaven is the very center 
of Christ's work in behalf of men. It concerns every soul 



THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT. 489 

living upon the earth. It opens to view the plan of re- 
demption, bringing us down to the very close of time, and 
revealing the triumphant issue of the contest between right- 
eousness and sin. It is of the utmost importance that all 
should thoroughly investigate these subjects, and be able 
to give an answer to every one that asketh them a reason 
of the hope that is in them. 

The intercession of Christ in man's behalf in the sanctuary 
above is as essential to the plan of salvation as was his death 
upon the cross. By his death he began that work which 
after his resurrection he ascended to complete in Heaven. 
"We must by faith enter within the veil, " whither the fore- 
runner is for us entered." l There the light from the cross 
of Calvary is reflected. There we may gain a clearer in- 
sight into the mysteries of redemption. The salvation of 
man is accomplished at an infinite expense to Heaven; the 
sacrifice made is equal to the broadest demands of the broken 
law of God. Jesus has opened the way to the Father's. 
throne, and through his mediation the sincere desire of all. 
who come to him in faith may be presented before God. 

" He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso 
confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." 2 If those 
who hide and excuse their faults could see how Satan exults 
over them, how he taunts Christ and holy angels with their 
course, they would make haste to confess their sins and to 
put them away. Through defects in the character, Satan 
works to gain control of the whole mind, and he knows that 
if these defects are cherished, he will succeed. Therefore he 
is constantly seeking to deceive the followers of Christ with 
his fatal sophistry that it is impossible for them to overcome. 
But Jesus pleads in their behalf his wounded hands, his 
bruised body; and he declares to all who would follow him, 
" My grace is sufficient for thee." 3 " Take my yoke upon 
you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; 
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, 

1 Heb. 6 :20. 2 Prov. 28 :13. 3 2 Cor. 12 -.9. 

35 



490 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

and my burden is light." l Let none, then, regard their 
defects as incurable. God will give faith and grace to over- 
come them. 

We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the 
typical service, while the high priest was making the atone- 
ment for Israel, all were required to afflict their souls by 
repentance of sin, by humiliation before the Lord, lest they 
be cut off from among the people. In like maimer, all who 
would have their names retained in the book of life, should 
now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict 
their souls before God by sorrow for sin, and true repentance. 
There must be deep, faithful searching of heart. The light, 
frivolous spirit indulged by so many of professed Christians 
must be put away.. There is earnest warfare before all who 
would subdue the evil tendencies that strive for the mastery. 
The work of preparation is an individual work. We are 
not saA^ed in groups. The purity and devotion of one will 
not offset the want of these qualities in another. Though 
all nations are to pass in judgment before God, yet he will 
examine the case of each individual with as close and search- 
ing scrutiny as if there were not another being upon the 
earth. Every one must be tested, and found without spot 
or wrinkle or any such thing. 

Solemn are the scenes connected with the closing work 
of the atonement. Momentous are the interests involved 
therein. The Judgment is now passing in the sanctuary 
above. For more than forty years this work has been in 
progress. Soon — none know how soon — it will pass to the 
cases of the living. In the awful presence of God our lives 
are to come up in review. At this time above all others it 
behooves every soul to heed the Saviour's admonition, 
"Watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is." 2 
"If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a 
thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon 
thee." 3 

1 Matt. 11 : 29, 30. 2 Mark 13 : 33. 3 Rev. 3 : 3. 



THE WVESTIGA TIVE JUDGMENT. 491 

When the work of the investigative Judgment closes, the 
destiny of all will have been decided for life or death. Pro- 
bation is ended a short time before the appearing of the 
Lord in the clouds of heaven. Christ in the Revelation, 
looking forward to that time, declares: "He that is unjust, 
let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be 
filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, be- 
hold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give 
every man according as his work shall be." l 

The righteous and the wicked will still be living upon the 
earth in their mortal state — men will be planting and build- 
ing, eating and drinking, all unconscious that the final, 
irrevocable decision has been pronounced in the sanctuary 
above. Before the flood, after Noah entered the ark, God 
shut him in, and shut the ungodly out; but for seven days 
the people, knowing not that their doom was fixed, continued 
their careless, pleasure-loving life, and mocked the warnings 
of impending judgment. " So," says the Saviour, " shall also 
the coming of the Son of man be." 2 Silently, unnoticed as 
the midnight thief, will come the decisive hour which marks 
the fixing of every man's destiny, the final withdrawal of 
mercy's offer to guilty men. 

"Watch ye therefore; . . . lest coming suddenly He 
find you sleeping." 3 Perilous is the condition of those who, 
growing weary of their watch, turn to the attractions of the 
world. While the man of business is absorbed in the pur- 
suit of gain, while the pleasure-lover is seeking indulgence, 
while the daughter of fashion is arranging her adornments, 
— it may be in that hour the Judge of all the earth will 
pronounce the sentence, " Thou art weighed in the balances, 
and art found wanting." 4 

i Rev. 22 : 11, 12. 2 Matt. 24 : 39. » Mark 13 : 35, 36. 4 Dan. 5 : 27. 



CHAPTER XXIX 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 

To many minds, the origin of sin and the reason for its 
existence are a source of great perplexity. They see the 
work of evil, with its terrible results of woe and desolation, 
and they question how all this can exist under the sov- 
ereignty of One who is infinite in wisdom, in power, and 
in love. Here is a mystery, of which they find no expla- 
nation. And in their uncertainty and doubt, they are 
blinded to truths plainly revealed in God's Word, and es- 
sential to salvation. There are those who, in their inquiries 
concerning the existence of sin, endeavor to search into that 
which God has never revealed; hence they find no solution 
of their difficulties ; and such as are actuated by a disposition 
to doubt and caA 7 il, seize upon this as an excuse for rejecting 
the words of Holy Writ. Others, however, fail of a satis- 
factory understanding of the great problem of evil, from the 
fact that tradition and misinterpretation have obscured the 
teaching of the Bible concerning the character of God, the 
nature of his government, and the principles of his dealing 
with sin. 

It is impossible to so explain the origin of sin as to give 
a reason for its existence. Yet enough may be understood 
concerning both the origin and the final disposition of sin, 
to fully make manifest the justice and benevolence of God 
in all his dealings with evil. Nothing is more plainly 
taught in Scripture than that God was in nowise responsible 
for the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary with- 
drawal of divine grace, no deficiency in the divine govern- 
ment, that gave occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin 

(492) 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 493 



is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. 
It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it, is to defend it. 
Could excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its ex- 
istence, it would cease to be sin. Our only definition of sin 
is that given in the Word of God; it is "the transgression 
of the law;" it is the outworking of a principle at war with 
the great law of love which is the foundation of the divine 
government. 

Before the entrance of evil, there was peace and joy 
throughout the universe. All was in perfect harmony with 
the Creator's will. Love for God was supreme, love for one 
another impartial. Christ the Word, the only begotten of 
God, was one with the eternal Father, — one in nature, in 
character, and in purpose, — the only being in all the universe 
that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God. 
By Christ, the Father wrought in the creation of all heavenly 
beings. " By him were all things created, that are in Heaven, 
. . . whether they be thrones, or dominions, or princi- 
palities, or powers;" l and to Christ, equally with the Father, 
all Heaven gave allegiance. 

The law of love being the foundation of the government 
of God, the happiness of all created beings depended upon 
their perfect accord with its great principles of righteousness. 
God desires from all his creatures the service of love, — 
homage that springs from an intelligent appreciation of his 
character. He takes no pleasure in a forced allegiance, and 
to all he grants freedom of will, that they may render him 
voluntary service. 

But there was one that chose to pervert this freedom. 
Sin originated with him, who, next to Christ, had been 
most honored of God, and who stood highest in power and 
glory among the inhabitants of Heaven. Before his fall, 
Lucifer was first of the covering cherubs, holy and uncleflled. 
"Thus saith the Lord God: Thou sealest up the sum, full 
of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden 
the garden of God ; every precious stone was thy covering." 

^Ol 1 :16. 



494 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

"Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have 
set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou 
hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast 
created, till iniquity was found in thee." x 

Lucifer might have remained in favor with God, beloved 
and honored by all the angelic host, exercising his noble 
powers to bless others and to glorify his Maker. But, says 
the prophet, " Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, 
thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy bright- 
ness." * Little by little, Lucifer came to indulge a desire for 
self-exaltation. " Thou hast set thine heart as the heart of 
God." "Thou hast said: ... I will exalt my throne 
above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of 
the congregation." " I will ascend above the heights of the 
clouds; I will be like the Most High." 2 Instead of seeking 
to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of his 
creatures, it was Lucifer's endeavor to win their service and 
homage to himself. And, coveting the honor which the 
infinite Father had bestowed upon his Son, this prince of 
angels aspired to power which it was the prerogative of 
Christ alone to wield. 

All Heaven had rejoiced to reflect the Creator's glory and 
to show forth his praise. And while God was thus honored,, 
all had been peace and gladness. But a note of discord now 
marred the celestial harmonies. The service and exaltation 
of self, contrary to the Creator's plan, awakened forebodings 
of evil in minds to whom God's glory was supreme. The 
heavenly councils pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God 
presented before him the greatness, the goodness, and the 
justice of the Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature 
of his law. God himself had established the order of Heaven ; 
and in departing from it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker, 
and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in 
infinite love and mercy, only aroused a spirit of resistance. 

1 Eze. 28 : 12-15, 17. 2 Eze . 28 : 6 ; Isa. 14:13, 14. 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 495 

Lucifer allowed jealousy of Christ to prevail, and he became 
the more determined. 

Pride in his own glory nourished the desire for supremacy. 
The high honors conferred upon Lucifer Avere not appre- 
ciated as the gift of God, and called forth no gratitude to 
the Creator. He gloried in his brightness and exaltation, 
and aspired to be equal with God. He was beloved and 
reverenced by the heavenly host. Angels delighted to exe- 
cute his commands, and he was clothed with wisdom and 
glory above them all. Yet the Son of God was the acknowl- 
edged sovereign of Heaven, one in power and authority with 
the Father. In all the counsels of God, Christ was a par- 
ticipant, while Lucifer was not permitted thus to enter into 
the divine purposes. " Why," questioned this mighty angel, 
"should Christ have the supremacy? Why is he thus hon- 
ored above Lucifer ? " 

Leaving his place in the immediate presence of God, 
Lucifer went forth to diffuse the spirit of discontent among 
the angels. Working with mysterious secrecy, and for a 
time concealing his real purpose under an appearance of 
reverence for God, he endeavored to excite dissatisfaction 
concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, inti- 
mating that they imposed an unnecessary restraint. Since 
their natures w T ere holy, he urged that the angels should 
obey the dictates of their own will. He sought to create 
sympathy for himself, by representing that God had dealt 
unjustly with him in bestowing supreme honor upon Christ. 
He claimed that in aspiring to greater power and honor he 
was not aiming at self-exaltation, but was seeking to secure 
liberty for all the inhabitants of Heaven, that by this means 
they might attain to a higher state of existence. 

God, in his great mercy, bore long with Lucifer. He was 
not immediately degraded from his exalted station when he 
first indulged the spirit of discontent, nor even when he be- 
gan to present his false claims before the loyal angels. Long 
was he retained in Heaven. Again and again he was offered 



496 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

pardon, on condition of repentance and submission. Such 
efforts as only infinite love and wisdom could devise, were 
made to convince him of his error. The spirit of discontent 
had never before been known in Heaven. Lucifer himself 
did not at first see whither he was drifting; he did not un- 
derstand the real nature of his feelings. But as his dis- 
satisfaction was proved to be without cause, Lucifer was 
convinced that he was in the wrong, that the divine claims 
were just, and that he ought to acknowledge them as such 
before all Heaven. Had he done this, he might have saved 
himself and many angels. He had not at this time fully 
cast off his allegiance to God. Though he had forsaken 
his position as covering cherub, yet if he had been willing 
to return to God, acknowledging the Creator's wisdom, and 
satisfied to fill the place appointed him in God's great plan, 
he would have been re-instated in his office. But pride 
forbade him to submit. He persistently defended his own 
course, maintained that he had no need of repentance, and 
fully committed himself, in the great controversy, against 
his Maker. 

All the powers of his master-mind were now bent to the 
work of deception, to secure the sympathy of the angels that 
had been under his command. Even the fact that Christ had 
warned and counseled him, was perverted to serve his trai- 
torous designs. To those whose loving trust bound them 
most closely to him, Satan had represented that he was 
wrongly judged, that his position was not respected, and that 
his liberty was to be abridged. From misrepresentation of 
the words of Christ, he passed to prevarication and direct false- 
hood, accusing the Son of God of a design to humiliate him 
before the inhabitants of Heaven. He sought also to make 
a false issue between himself and the loyal angels. All 
whom he could not subvert and bring fully to his side, he 
accused of indifference to the interests of heavenly beings. 
The very work which he himself was doing, he charged 
upon those who remained true to God. And to sustain his 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 497 

charge of God's injustice toward him, lie resorted to misrep- 
resentation of the words and acts of the Creator. It was his 
policy to perplex the angels with subtle arguments concern- 
ing the purposes of God. Everything that was simple he 
shrouded in mystery, and by artful perversion cast doubt 
upon the plainest statements of Jehovah. His high position, 
in such close connection with the divine administration, gave_ 
greater force to his representations, and many were induced 
to unite with him in rebellion against Heaven's authority. 

God in his wisdom permitted Satan to carry forward his 
work, until the spirit of disaffection ripened into active revolt. 
It was necessary for his plans to be fully developed, that 
their true nature and tendency might be seen by all. Lucifer, 
as the anointed cherub, had been highly exalted; he was 
greatly loved by the heavenly beings, and his influence over 
them was strong. God's government included not only the 
inhabitants of Heaven, but of all the worlds that he had 
created ; and Satan thought that if he could carry the angels 
of Heaven with him in rebellion, he could carry also the 
other worlds. He had artfully presented his side of the 
question, employing sophistry and fraud to secure his objects. 
His power to deceive was very great, and by disguising him- 
self in a cloak of falsehood he had gained an advantage. 
Even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character, 
or see to wdiat his work was leading. 

Satan had been so highly honored, and all his acts were 
so clothed with mystery, that it was difficult to disclose to 
the angels the true nature of his work. Until fully devel- 
oped, sin would not appear the evil thing it was. Hereto- 
fore it had had no place in the universe of God, and holy 
beings had no conception of its nature and malignity. They 
could not discern the terrible consequences that would result 
from setting aside the divine law. Satan had, at first, con- 
cealed his work under a specious profession of loyalty to 
God. He claimed to be seeking to promote the honor of 
God, the stability of his government, and the good of all the 



498 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



inhabitants of Heaven. While instilling discontent into the 
minds of the angels under him, he had artfully made it 
appear that he was seeking to remove dissatisfaction. When 
he urged that changes be made in the order and laws of 
God's government, it was under the pretense that these were 
necessary in order to preserve harmony in Heaven. 

In his dealing with sin, God could employ only righteous- 
ness and truth. Satan could use what God could not — 
flattery and deceit. He had sought to falsify the word of 
God, and had misrepresented his plan of government before 
the angels, # cl aiming that God was not just in laying laws 
and rules upon the inhabitants of Heaven; that in requiring 
submission and obedience from his creatures, he was seeking 
merely the exaltation of himself. Therefore it must be dem- 
onstrated before the inhabitants of Heaven as well as of all 
the worlds, that God's government was just, his law perfect. 
Satan had made it appear that he himself was seeking to 
promote trTe good of the universe. The true character of 
the usurper, and his real object, must be understood by all. 
He must have time to manifest himself by his wicked works. 

The discord which his own course had caused in Heaven, 
Satan charged upon the law and government of God. All 
evil he declared to be the result of the divine administration. 
He claimed that it was his own object to improve upon the 
statutes of Jehovah. Therefore it was necessary that he 
should demonstrate the nature of his claims, and show the 
working out of his proposed changes in the divine law. His 
own work must condemn him. Satan had claimed from 
the first that he was not in rebellion. The whole universe 
must see the deceiver unmasked. 

Even when it was decided that he could no longer remain 
in Heaven, infinite wisdom did not destroy Satan. Since 
the service of love can alone be acceptable to God, the alle- 
giance of his creatures must rest upon a conviction of his 
justice and benevolence. The inhabitants of Heaven and 
of other worlds, being unprepared to comprehend the nature 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 499 

or consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice 
and mercy of God in the destruction of Satan. Had lie been 
immediately blotted from existence, they would have served 
God from fear, rather than from love. The influence of the 
deceiver would not have been fully destroyed, nor would the 
spirit of rebellion have been utterly eradicated. Evil must 
be permitted to come to maturity. For the good of the 
entire universe through ceaseless ages, Satan must more 
fully develop his principles, that his charges against the 
divine government might be seen in their true light by all 
created beings, that the justice and mercy of God and the 
immutability of his law might forever be placed beyond all 
question. 

Satan's rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through 
all coming ages, a perpetual testimony to the nature and 
terrible results of sin. The working out of Satan's rule, 
its effects upon both men and angels, would show what must 
be the fruit of setting aside the divine authority. It would 
testify that with the existence of God's government and his 
law is bound up the well-being of all the creatures he has 
made. Thus the history of this terrible experiment of re- 
bellion was to be a perpetual safeguard to all holy intelli- 
gences, to prevent them from being deceived as to the nature 
of transgression, to save them from committing sin, and suf- 
fering its punishment. 

To the very close of the controversy in Heaven, the great 
usurper continued to justify himself. When it was an- 
nounced that with all his sympathizers he must be expelled 
from the abodes of bliss, then the rebel leader boldly avowed 
his contempt for the Creator's law. He reiterated his claim 
that angels needed no control, but should be left to follow 
their own will, which would ever guide them right. He 
denounced the divine statutes as a restriction of their liberty, 
and declared that it was his purpose to secure the abolition 
of law; that, freed from this restraint, the hosts of Heaven 
might enter upon a more exalted, more glorious state of 
existence. 



500 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



With one accord, Satan and his host threw the blame of 
their rebellion wholly upon Christ, declaring that if they 
had not been reproved, they would never have rebelled. 
Thus stubborn and defiant in their disloyalty, seeking vainly 
to overthrow the government of God, yet blasphemously 
claiming to be themselves the innocent victims of oppressive 
power, the arch-rebel and all his sympathizers were at last 
banished from Heaven. 

The same spirit that prompted rebellion in Heaven, still 
inspires rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men 
the same policy which he pursued with the angels. His 
spirit now reigns in the children of disobedience. Like him 
they seek to break down the restraints of the law of God, 
and promise men. liberty through transgression of its pre- 
cepts. Reproof of sin still arouses the spirit of hatred and 
resistance. When God's messages of warning are brought 
home to the conscience, Satan leads men to justify them- 
selves, and to seek the sympathy of others in their course 
of sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they excite indig- 
nation against the reprover, as if he were the sole cause of 
difficulty. From the days of righteous Abel to our own 
time, such is the spirit which has been displayed toward 
those who dare to condemn sin. 

By the same misrepresentation of the character of God as 
he had practiced in Heaven, causing him to be regarded as 
severe and tyrannical, Satan induced man to sin. And 
having succeeded thus far, he declared that God's unjust 
restrictions had led to man's fall, as they had led to his own 
rebellion. 

But the Eternal One himself proclaims his character: 
" The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and 
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou- 
sands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and 
that will by no means clear the guilty." l 

In the banishment of Satan from Heaven, God declared 
his justice, and maintained the honor of his throne. But 

!Ex. 34 :G, 7. 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 501 

when man had sinned through yielding to the deceptions 
of this apostate spirit, God gave an evidence of his love by 
yielding up his only begotten Son to die for the fallen race. 
In the atonement the character of God is revealed. The 
mighty argument of the cross demonstrates to the whole 
universe that the course of sin which Lucifer had chosen 
was in nowise chargeable upon the government of God. 

In the contest between Christ and Satan, during the Sav- 
iour's earthly ministry, the character of the great deceiver 
was unmasked. Nothing could so effectually have uprooted 
Satan from the affections of the heavenly angels and the 
whole loyal universe as did his cruel warfare upon the 
world's Redeemer. The daring blasphemy of his demand 
that Christ should pay him homage, his presumptuous bold- 
ness in bearing him to the mountain summit and the pin- 
nacle of the temple, the malicious intent betrayed in urging 
him to cast himself down from the dizzy height, the un- 
sleeping malice that hunted him from place to place, inspir- 
ing the hearts of priests and people to reject his love, and at 
the last to cry, " Crucify him ! crucify him! " — all this excited 
the amazement and indignation of the universe. 

It was Satan that prompted the world's rejection of Christ. 
The prince of evil exerted all his power and cunning to 
destroy Jesus; for he saw that the Saviour's mercy and love, 
his compassion and pitying tenderness, were representing 
to the world the character of God. Satan contested every 
claim put forth by the Son of God, and employed men as 
his agents to fill the Saviour's life with suffering and sorrow. 
The sophistry and falsehood by which he had sought to 
hinder the work of Jesus, the hatred manifested through the 
children of disobedience, his cruel accusations against Him 
whose life was one of unexampled goodness, all sprung from 
deep-seated revenge. The pent-up fires of envy and malice, 
hatred and revenge, burst forth on Calvary against the Son 
of God, while ail Heaven gazed upon the scene in silent 
horror. 



502 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

When the great sacrifice had been consummated, Christ 
ascended on high, refusing the adoration of angels until he 
had presented the request, "I will that they also, whom 
thou hast given me, be with me where I am." 1 Then with 
inexpressible love and power came forth the answer from 
the Father's throne, " Let all the angels of God worship 
him." 2 Not a stain rested upon Jesus. His humiliation 
ended, his sacrifice completed, there was given unto him a 
name that is above every name. 

Now the guilt of Satan stood forth without excuse. He 
had revealed his true character as a liar and a murderer. 
It was seen that the very same spirit with which he ruled 
the children of men, who were under his power, he would 
have manifested -had he been permitted to control the in- 
habitants of Heaven. He had claimed that the transgression 
of God's law would bring liberty and exaltation ; but it was 
seen to result in bondage and degradation. 

Satan's lying charges against the divine character and 
government appeared in their true light. He had accused 
God of seeking merely the exaltation of himself in requiring 
submission and obedience from his creatures, and had de- 
clared that while the Creator exacted self-denial from all 
others, he himself practiced no self-denial, and made no 
sacrifice. Now it was seen that for the salvation of a fallen 
and sinful race, the Ruler of the universe had made the 
greatest sacrifice which love could make; for " God was in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 3 It was seen, 
also, that while Lucifer had opened the door for the entrance 
of sin, by his desire for honor and supremacy, Christ had, 
in order to destroy sin, humbled himself, and become obe- 
dient unto 'death. 

God had manifested his abhorrence of the principles of 
rebellion. All Heaven saw his justice revealed, both in the 
condemnation of Satan and in the redemption of man. 
Lucifer had declared that if the law of God was changeless, 

1 J ohn 17 : 24. 2 Heb. 1:6. 3 2 Cor. 5 : 19. 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 503 

and its penalty could not 1x3 remitted, every transgressor 
must be forever debarred from the Creator's favor. He had 
claimed that the sinful race were placed beyond redemption, 
and were therefore his rightful prey. But the death of 
Christ was an argument in man's behalf that could not be 
overthrown. The penalty of the law fell upon him who 
was equal with God, and man was free to accept the right- 
eousness of Christ, and by a life of penitence and humiliation 
to triumph, as the Son of God had triumphed, over the 
power of Satan. Thus God is just, and yet the justifier of 
all who believe in Jesus. 

But it was not merely to accomplish the redemption of 
man that Christ came to the earth to suffer and to die. He 
came to "magnify the law" and to "make it honorable." 
Not alone that the inhabitants of this world might regard 
the law as it should be regarded ; but it was to demonstrate 
to all the worlds of the universe that God's law is unchange- 
able. Could its claims have been set aside, then the Son of 
God need not have yielded up his life to atone for its trans- 
gression. The death of Christ proves it immutable. And 
the sacrifice to which infinite love impelled the Father and 
the Son, that sinners might be redeemed, demonstrates to 
all the universe — what nothing less than this plan of atone- 
ment could have sufficed to do — that justice and mercy are 
the foundation of the law and government of God. 

In the final execution of the Judgment it will be seen that 
no cause for sin exists. When the Judge of all the earth 
shall demand of Satan, "Why hast thou rebelled against 
me, and robbed me of the subjects of my kingdom?" the 
originator of evil can render no excuse. Every mouth will 
be stopped, and all the hosts of rebellion will be speechless. 

The cross of Calvar}^, while it declares the law immutable, 
proclaims to the universe that the wages of sin is death. In 
the Saviour's expiring cry, "It is finished," the death-knell 
of Satan was rung. The great controversy which had been 
so long in progress was then decided, and the final eradi- 



504 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

cation of evil was made certain. The Son of God passed 
through the portals of the tomb, that "through death he 
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the 
devil.' 1 1 Lucifer's desire for self-exaltation had led him to say, 
" I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. ... I 
will be like the Most High." God declares, " I will bring 
thee to ashes upon the earth, . . . and never shalt thou 
be any more." 2 When "the day cometh that shall burn as 
an oven," " all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall 
be stubble ; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, 
saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root 
nor branch." 3 

The whole universe will have become witnesses to the 
nature and results of sin. And its utter extermination, 
which in the beginning would have brought fear to angels 
and dishonor to God, will now vindicate his love and es- 
tablish his honor before a universe of beings who delight 
to do his will, and in whose heart is his law. Never will 
evil again be manifest. Says the "Word of God, "Affliction 
shall not rise up the second time." 4 The law of God, which 
Satan has reproached as the yoke of bondage, will be hon- 
ored as the law of liberty. A tested and proved creation 
will never again be turned from allegiance to Him whose 
character has been fully manifested before them as fathom- 
less loA^e and infinite wisdom. 

i Beb. 2 : 14. 2 Isa. 14 : 13, 14; Eze. 28 : 18, 19. 

3 Mai. 4.1. *Nah. 1:9. 



CHAPTER XXX 



ENMITY BETWEEN MAN AND SATAN. 

"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and 
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, 
and thou shalt bruise his heel." l The divine sentence pro- 
nounced against Satan after the fall of man, was also a 
prophecy, embracing all the ages to the close of time, and 
foreshadowing the great conflict to engage all the races of 
men who should live upon the earth. 

God declares, "I will put enmity." This enmity is not 
naturally entertained. When man transgressed the divine 
law, his nature became evil, and he was in harmony, and 
not at variance, with Satan. There exists naturally no 
enmity between sinful man and the originator of sin. Both 
became evil through apostasy. The apostate is never at 
rest, except as he obtains sympathy and support by inducing 
others to follow his example. For this reason, fallen angels 
and wicked men unite in desperate companionship. Had 
not God specially interposed, Satan and man would have 
entered into an alliance against Heaven; and instead of 
cherishing enmity against Satan, the whole human family 
would have been united in opposition to God. 

Satan tempted man to sin, as he had caused angels to 
rebel, that he might thus secure co-operation in his warfare 
against Heaven. There was no dissension between himself 
and the fallen angels as regards their hatred of Christ; while 
on all other points there was discord, they were firmly united 
in opposing the authority of the Ruler of the universe. But 
when Satan heard the declaration that enmity should exist 

iGen. 3:15. 
36 < 505 ) 



506 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



between himself and the woman, and between his seed and 
her seed, he knew that his efforts to deprave human nature 
w r ould be interrupted; that by some means man w r as to be 
enabled to resist his power. 

Satan's enmity against the human race is kindled, because, 
through Christ, they are the objects of God's love and mercy. 
He desires to thw r art the divine plan for man's redemption, 
to cast dishonor upon God, by defacing and defiling his 
handiwork; he would cause grief in Heaven, and fill the 
earth with woe and desolation. And he points to all this 
evil as the result of God's work in creating man. 

It is the grace that Christ implants in the soul which 
creates in man enmity against Satan. Without this con- 
verting grace and renewing power, man would continue the 
captive of Satan, a servant ever ready to do his bidding. 
But the new principle in the soul creates conflict where 
hitherto had been peace. The power which Christ imparts, 
enables man to resist the tyrant and usurper. Whoever is 
seen to abhor sin instead of loving it, whoever resists and 
conquers those passions that have held sway within, displays 
the operation of a principle wholly from above. 

The antagonism that exists between the spirit of Christ 
and the spirit of Satan was most strikingly displayed in the 
world's reception of Jesus. It was not so much because he 
appeared without worldly wealth, pomp, or grandeur, that 
the Jews were led to reject him. They saw that he possessed 
power which would more than compensate for the lack of 
these outward advantages. But the purity and holiness of 
Christ called forth against him the hatred of the ungodly. 
His life of self-denial and sinless devotion w r as a perpetual 
reproof to a proud, sensual people. It was this that evoked 
enmity against the Son of God. Satan and evil angels joined 
with evil men. All the energies of apostasy conspired against 
the champion of truth. 

The same enmity is manifested toward Christ's followers 
as was manifested toward their Master. Whoever sees the 



ENMITY BETWEEN MAN AND SA TAN. 507 

repulsive character of sin, and, in strength from above, re- 
sists temptation, will assuredly arouse the wrath of Satan 
and his subjects. Hatred of the pure principles of truth, 
and reproach and persecution of its advocates, will exist as 
long as sin and sinners remain. The followers of Christ 
and the servants of Satan cannot harmonize. The offense 
of the cross has not ceased. "All that will live godly in 
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 1 

Satan's agents are constantly working under his direction 
to establish his authority and build up his kingdom in oppo- 
sition to the government of God. To this end they seek to 
deceive Christ's followers, and allure them from their alle- 
giance. Like their leader, they misconstrue and pervert 
the Scriptures to accomplish their object. As Satan en- 
deavored to cast reproach upon God, so do his agents seek 
to malign God's people. The spirit which put Christ to 
death moves the wicked to destroy his followers. All this 
is foreshadowed in that first prophecy, " I will put enmity 
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her 
seed." And this will continue to the close of time. 

Satan summons all his forces, and throws his whole power 
into the combat. Why is it that he meets with no greater 
resistance? Why are the soldiers of Christ so sleepy and 
indifferent? — Because they have so little real connection 
with Christ; because they are so destitute of his Spirit, Sin 
is not to them repulsive and abhorrent, as it was to their 
Master. They do not meet it, as did Christ, with decisive 
and determined resistance. They do not realize the exceed- 
ing evil and malignity of sin, and they are blinded both to 
the character and the power of the prince of darkness. 
There is little enmity against Satan and his works, because 
there is so great ignorance concerning his power and malice, 
and the vast extent of his warfare against Christ and his 
church. Multitudes are deluded here. They do not know 
that their enemy is a mighty general, who controls the 
minds of evil angels, and that with well-matured plans and 

^Tim. 3:12. 



508 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



skillful movements he is warring against Christ to prevent 
the salvation of souls. Among professed Christians, and 
even among ministers of the gospel, there is heard scarcely 
a reference to Satan, except perhaps an incidental mention 
in the pulpit. They overlook the evidences of his continual 
activity and success; they neglect the many warnings of his 
subtlety; they seem to ignore his very existence. 

While men are ignorant of his devices, this vigilant foe 
is upon their track every moment. He is intruding his 
presence in every department of the household, in every 
street of our cities, in the churches, in the national councils, 
in the courts of justice, perplexing, deceiving, seducing, 
everywhere ruining the souls and bodies of men, women, 
and children, breaking up families, sowing hatred, emula- 
tion, strife, sedition, murder. And the Christian world seem 
to regard these things as though God had appointed them, 
and they must exist. 

Satan is continually seeking to overcome the people of 
God by breaking down the barriers which separate them 
from the world. Ancient Israel were enticed into sin when 
they ventured into forbidden association with the heathen. 
In a similar manner are modern Israel led astray. " The 
god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which 
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, 
who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 1 All 
who are not decided followers of Christ are servants of Satan. 
In the unregenerate heart there is love of sin, and a dis- 
position to cherish and excuse it, In the renewed heart 
there is hatred of sin, and determined resistance against it, 
When Christians choose the society of the ungodly and 
unbelieving, they expose themselves to temptation. Satan 
conceals himself from view, and stealthily draws his decep- 
tive covering over their eyes. They cannot see that such 
company is calculated to do them harm; and while all the 
time assimilating to the world in character, words, and 
actions, they are becoming more and more blinded. 

^Cor. 4:4. 



ENMITY BETWEEN MAX AND SATAN 509 

Conformity to worldly customs converts the church to the 
world" it never converts the world to Christ. Familiarity 
with sin will inevitably cause it to appear less repulsive- 
He who chooses to associate with the servants of Satan, 
will soon cease to fear their master. When in the way of 
duty we are brought into trial, as was Daniel in the king's 
court, we may be sure that God will protect us: but if we 
place ourselves under temptation. w T e shall fall sooner or 
later. 

The tempter often works most successfully through those 
who are least suspected of being under his control. The 
possessors of talent and education are admired and honored, 
as if these qualities could atone for the absence of the fear 
of God, or entitle men to his favor. Talent and culture, 
considered in themselves, are gifts of God; but when these 
are made to supply the place of piety, when, instead of bring- 
ing the soul nearer to God, they lead away from him. then 
they become a curse and a snare. The opinion prevails 
with many that all which appears like courtesy or re- 
finement must, in some sense, pertain to Christ. Never 
was there a greater mistake. These qualities should grace 
the character of every Christian, for they would exert a 
powerful influence in favor of true religion ; but they must 
•be consecrated to God, or they also are a power for evil. 
Many a man of cultured intellect and pleasant manners who 
would not stoop to what is commonly regarded as an im- 
moral act, is but a polished instrument in the hands of Satan. 
The insidious, deceptive character of his influence and ex- 
ample renders him a more dangerous enemy to the cause of 
Christ than are those who are ignorant and uncultured. 

By earnest prayer and dependence upon God, Solomon 
obtained the wisdom which excited the wonder and ad- 
miration of the world. But when he turned from the 
Source of his strength, and went forward relying upon him- 
self, he fell a prey to temptation. Then the marvelous 
powers bestowed on this wisest of kings, only rendered him 
a more effective agent of the adversary of souls. 



510 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



While Satan is constantly seeking to blind their minds 
to the fact, let Christians never forget that they " wrestle not 
against flesh and bipod, but against principalities, against 
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, 
against wicked spirits in high places." l The inspired warn- 
ing is sounding down the centuries to our time: " Be sober, 
be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring 
lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 2 "Put 
on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand 
against the wiles of the devil." 3 

From the days of Adam to our own time, our great enemy 
has been exercising his power to oppress and destroy. He 
is now preparing for his last campaign against the church. 
All who seek to- follow Jesus will be brought into conflict 
with this relentless foe. The more nearly the Christian 
imitates the divine Pattern, the more surely will he make 
himself a mark for the attacks of Satan. All who are ac- 
tively engaged in the cause of God, seeking to unveil the 
deceptions of the evil one -and to present Christ before the 
people, will be able to join in the testimony of Paul, in 
which he speaks of serving the Lord with all humility of 
mind, with many tears and temptations. 

Satan assailed Christ with his fiercest and most subtle 
temptations; but he was repulsed in every conflict. Those 
battles were fought in our behalf; those victories make it 
possible for us to conquer. Christ will give strength to all 
who seek it. No man without his own consent can be over- 
come by Satan. The tempter has no power to control the 
will or to force the soul to sin. He may distress, but he 
cannot contaminate. He can cause agony, but not defile- 
ment. The fact that Christ has conquered should inspire 
his followers with courage to fight manfully the battle 
against sin and Satan. 

1 Eph. 6 : 12 (margin). '•* 1 Pet. 5 : 8. 3 Eph. 6:11. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



AGKNCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 

The connection of the visible with the invisible world, the 
ministration of angels of God, and the agency of evil spirits, 
are plainly revealed in the Scriptures, and inseparably in- 
terwoven with human history. There is a growing tend- 
ency to disbelief in the existence of evil spirits, while the 
holy angels that " minister for them who shall be heirs of 
salvation," 1 are regarded by many as the spirits of the dead. 
But the Scriptures not only teach the existence of angels, 
both good and evil, but present unquestionable proof that 
these are not the disembodied spirits of dead men. 

Before the creation of man, angels were in existence; fur 
when the foundations of the earth were laid, " the morning 
stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." J 
After the fall of man, angels were sent to guard the tree of 
life, and this before a human being had died. Angels are 
in nature superior to men. For the psalmist says that man 
was made " a little lower than the angels." s 

We are informed in Scripture as to the number, and the 
power and glory, of the heavenly beings, of their connection 
with the government of God, and also of their relation to 
the work of redemption. " The Lord hath prepared his 
throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all." 
And, says the prophet, " I heard the voice of many angels 
round about the throne." In the presence-chamber of the 
King of kings they wait — " angels that excel in strength," 
"ministers of his, that do his pleasure," "hearkening unto 
the voice of his word." 4 Ten thousand times ten thousand 

: Heb. 1:14. 2 Job 38: 7. 3 Ps. 8 : 5. *Ps. 103 : 19-21; Rev. 5: 11. 

(511) 



512 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



and thousands of thousands, were the heavenly messengers 
beheld by the prophet Daniel. The apostle Paul declared 
them " an innumerable company." x As God's messengers 
they go forth, like " the appearance of a flash of lightning,"" 2 
so dazzling their glory, and so swift their flight. The angel 
that appeared at the Saviour's tomb, his countenance " like 
lightning, and his raiment white as snow," caused the keepers 
for fear of him to quake, and they "became as dead men." 3 
When Sennacherib, the haughty Assyrian, reproached and 
blasphemed God, and threatened Israel with destruction, 
" it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went 
out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred 
fourscore and five thousand." There were " cut off all the 
mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains," from 
the army of Sennacherib. "So he returned with shame of 
face to his own land." i 

Angels are sent on missions of mercy to the children of 
God. To Abraham, with promises of blessing; to the gates 
of Sodom, to rescue righteous Lot from its fiery doom ;. to 
Elijah, as he was about to perish from weariness and hunger 
in the desert; to Elisha, with chariots and horses of fire 
surrounding the little town where he was shut in by his 
foes; to Daniel, while seeking divine wisdom in the court 
of a heathen king, or abandoned to become the lions' prey; 
to Peter, doomed to death in Herod's dungeon ; to the pris- 
oners at Philippi; to Paul and his companions in the night 
of tempest on the sea; to open the mind of Cornelius to 
receive the gospel; to dispatch Peter, with the message of 
salvation to the Gentile stranger, — thus holy angels have, in 
all ages, ministered to God's people. 

A guardian angel is appointed to every follower of Christ. 
These heavenly watchers shield the righteous from the power 
of the wicked one. This Satan himself recognized when 
he said, "Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou 

1 Dan. 7:10; Heb. 12:22. 2 Eze. 1:14. 3 Matt. 28 : 3, 4. 

4 2 Kings 19 : 35; 2 Chron. 32 : 21. 



AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 513 



made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about 
all that bo hath on every side?" The agency by which 
God protects his people is presented in the words of the 
psalmist, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about 
them that fear him, and delivereth them." 2 Said the Sav- 
iour, speaking of those that believe in him, "Take heed 
that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto 
you, That in Heaven their angels do always behold the 
face of my Father." 3 The angels appointed to minister 
to the children of God have at all times access to his 
presence. 

Thus God's people, exposed to the deceptive power and 
unsleeping malice of the prince of darkness, and in conflict 
with all the forces of evil, are assured of the unceasing 
guardianship of heavenly angels. Nor is such assurance 
given without need. If God has granted to his children 
promise of grace and protection, it is because there are 
mighty agencies of evil to be met, — agencies numerous, 
determined, and untiring, of whose malignity and power 
none can safely be ignorant or unheeding. 

Evil spirits, in the beginning created sinless, were equal 
in nature, power, and glory with the holy beings that are 
now God's messengers. But fallen . through sin, they are 
leagued together for the dishonor of God and the destruction 
of men. United with Satan in his rebellion and with him 
cast out from Heaven, they have, through all succeeding 
ages, co-operated with him in his warfare against the divine 
authority. We are told in Scripture of their confederacy 
and government, of their various orders, of their intelligence 
and subtlety, and of their malicious designs against the peace 
and happiness of men. 

Old-Testament history presents occasional mentions of 
their existence and agency; but it was during the time when 
Christ was upon the earth that evil spirits manifested their 
power in the most striking manner. Christ had come to 

1 Job 1 : 9, 10. * Ps. 34 : 7- 3 Matt. 18 : 10, 



514 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



enter upon the plan devised for man's redemption, and 
Satan determined to assert his right to control the world. 
He had succeeded in establishing idolatry in every part of 
the earth except the land of Palestine. To the only land 
that had not fully yielded to the tempter's sway, Christ came 
to shed upon the people the light of Heaven. Here two 
rival powers claimed supremacy. Jesus was stretching out 
his arms of love, inviting all who would to find pardon and 
peace in him. The hosts of darkness saw that they did not 
possess unlimited control, and they understood that if Christ's 
mission should be successful, their rule was soon to end. 
Satan raged like a chained lion, and defiantly exhibited his 
power over the bodies as well as the souls of men. 

The fact that men have been possessed with demons, is 
clearly stated in the New Testament. The persons thus 
afflicted were not merely suffering with disease from natural 
causes. Christ had perfect understanding of that with which 
he was dealing, and he recognized the direct presence and 
agency of evil spirits. 

A striking example of their number, power, and malignity, 
and also of the power and mercy of Christ, is given in the 
Scripture account of the healing of the demoniacs at Gadara. 
Those wretched maniacs, spurning all restraint, writhing, 
foaming, raging, were filling the air with their cries, doing 
violence to themselves, and endangering all who should 
approach them. Their bleeding and disfigured bodies and 
distracted minds presented a spectacle well-pleasing to the 
prince of darkness. One of the demons controlling the suf- 
ferers declared, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 1 
In the Roman army a legion consisted of from three to five 
thousand. men. Satan's hosts also are marshaled in com- 
panies, and the single company to which these demons be- 
longed numbered no less than a legion. 

At the command of Jesus, the evil spirits departed from 
their victims, leaving them calmly sitting at the Saviour's 

1 Mark o ; 9. 




CHRIST HEALING THE DEMONIAC. 



AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 515 

feet, subdued, intelligent, and gentle. But the demons were 
permitted to sweep a herd of swine into the sea; and to the 
dwellers of Gadara the loss of these outweighed the blessings 
which Christ had bestowed, and the divine Healer was en- 
treated to depart. This was the result which Satan designed 
to secure. By casting the blame of their loss upon Jesus, 
he aroused the selfish fears of the people, and prevented 
them from listening to his words. Satan is constantly ac- 
cusing Christians as the cause of loss, misfortune, and suf- 
fering, instead of allowing the reproach to fall where it be- 
longs, upon himself and his agents. 

But the purposes of Christ were not thwarted. He allowed 
the evil spirits to destroy the herd of swine as a rebuke to 
those Jews who w T ere raising these unclean beasts for the 
sake of gain. Had not Christ restrained the demons, they 
would have plunged into the sea, not only the swine, but 
also their keepers and owners. The preservation of both 
the keepers and the owners was clue alone to his power, 
mercifully exercised for their deliverance. Furthermore, 
this event was permitted to take place that the disciples 
might witness the cruel power of Satan upon both man and 
beast. The Saviour desired his followers to have a knowl- 
edge of the foe whom they were to meet, that they might 
not be deceived and overcome by his devices. It was also 
his will that the people of that region should behold his 
power to break the bondage of Satan and release his cap- 
tives. And though Jesus himself departed, the men so 
marvelously delivered remained to declare the mercy of 
their Benefactor. 

Other instances of a similar nature are recorded in the 
Scriptures. The daughter of the Syro-Phenician woman was 
grievously vexed with a devil, whom Jesus cast out by his 
word. 1 One "possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb," 2 a 
youth who had a dumb spirit, that ofttimes "cast him into 
the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him," 3 the maniac, 

1 Mark 7 : 2G-30. 2 Matt. 12 : 22. 3 Mark 9 : 17-27. 



516 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



who, tormented by "a spirit of an unclean devil," l disturbed 
the Sabbath quiet of the synagogue at Capernaum, were all 
healed by the compassionate Saviour. In nearly every in- 
stance, Christ addressed the demon as an intelligent entity, 
commanding him to come out of his victim and to torment 
him no more. The worshipers at Capernaum, beholding his 
mighty power, "were all amazed, and spake among them- 
selves, saying, What a word is this ! for with authority and 
power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come 
out." * 

Those possessed with devils are usually represented as 
being in a condition of great suffering ; yet there were ex- 
ceptions to this rule. For the sake of obtaining super- 
natural power, some -welcomed the Satanic influence. These 
of course had no conflict with the demons. Of this class 
were those who possessed the spirit of divination, — Simon 
Magus, Elymas the sorcerer, and the damsel who followed 
Paul and Silas at Philippi. 

None are in greater danger from the influence of evil 
spirits than are those who, notwithstanding the direct and 
ample testimony of the Scriptures, deny the existence and 
agency of the devil and his angels. So long as we are 
ignorant of their wiles, they have almost inconceivable ad- 
vantage; many give heed to their suggestions while they 
suppose themselves to be following the dictates of their own 
wisdom. This is why, as we approach the close of time, 
when Satan is to work with greatest power to deceive and 
destroy, he spreads everywhere the belief that he does not 
exist. It is his policy to conceal himself and his manner of 
working. 

There is nothing that the great deceiver fears so much as 
that we shall become acquainted with his devices. The 
better to disguise his real character and purposes, he has 
caused himself to be so represented as to excite no stronger 
emotion than ridicule or contempt. He is well pleased to 

1 Luke 4: 33-36. 



AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 51 



be painted as a ludicrous or loathsome object, misshapen, 
half animal and half human. He is pleased to hear Ins 
name used in sport and mockery by those who think them- 
selves intelligent and well-informed. 

It is because he has masked himself with consummate 
skill that the question is so widely asked, "Does such a being 
really exist?" It is an evidence of his success that theories 
giving the lie to the plainest testimony of the Scriptures are 
so generally received in the religious world. And it is be- 
cause Satan can most readily control the minds of those who 
are unconscious of his influence that the Word of God gives 
us so many examples of his malignant work, unveiling be- 
fore us his secret forces, and thus placing us on our guard 
against his assaults. 

The power and malice of Satan and his host might justly 
alarm us, were it not that we may find shelter and deliv- 
erance in the superior power of our Redeemer. We care- 
fully secure our houses with bolts and locks to protect our 
property and our lives from evil men; but we seldom think 
of the evil angels who are constantly seeking access to us, 
and against whose attacks we have, in our own strength, 
no method of defense. If permitted, they can distract our 
minds, disorder, torment our bodies, destroy our possessions 
and our lives. Their only delight is in misery and destruc- 
tion. Fearful is the condition of those who resist the divine 
claims, and yield to Satan's temptations, until God gives them 
up to the control of evil spirits. But those who follow Christ 
are ever safe under his watchcare. Angels that excel in 
strength are sent from Heaven to protect them. The wicked 
one cannot break through the guard which God has stationed 
about his people. 



CHAPTER XXXII 



SNARES OF SATAN. 

The great controversy between Christ and Satan, that has 
been carried forward for nearly six thousand years, is soon 
to close; and the wicked one redoubles his efforts to defeat 
the work of Christ in man's behalf, and to fasten souls in 
his snares. To hold the people in darkness and impenitence 
till the Saviour's mediation is ended, and there is no longer 
a sacrifice for sin, is the object which he seeks to accomplish. 

When there is no special effort made to resist his power, 
when indifference prevails in the church and the world, 
Satan is not concerned ; for he is in no danger of losing those 
whom he is leading captive at his will. But when the atten- 
tion is called to eternal things, and souls are inquiring, 
" What must I do to be saved? " he is on the ground, seeking 
to match his power against the power of Christ, and to 
counteract the influence of the Holy Spirit. 

The Scriptures declare that upon one occasion, when the 
angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, 
Satan came also among them, 1 not to bow before the Eternal 
King, but to further his own malicious designs against the 
righteous. With the same object he is in attendance when 
men assemble for the worship of God. Though hidden 
from sight, he is working with all diligence to control the 
minds of the worshipers. Like a skillful general, he lays 
his plans beforehand. As he sees the messenger of God 
searching the Scriptures, he takes note of the subject to be 
presented to the people. Then he employs all his cunning 
and shrewdness to so control circumstances that the message 

1 Job 1 : 6. 

(518) 



SNARES OF SATAN. 519 



may not reach those whom he is deceiving on that very 
point. The one who most needs the warning will be urged 
into some business transaction which requires his presence, 
or will by some other means be prevented from hearing the 
words that might prove to him a savor of life unto life. 

Again, Satan sees the Lord's servants burdened because 
of the spiritual darkness that enshrouds the people. He 
hears their earnest prayers for divine grace and power to 
break the spell of indifference, carelessness, and indolence. 
Then w T ith renewed zeal he plies his arts. He tempts men 
to the indulgence of appetite or to some other form of self- 
gratification, and thus benumbs their sensibilities, so that 
they fail to hear the very things which they most need to 
learn. 

Satan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect 
prayer and the searching of the Scriptures will be overcome 
by his attacks. Therefore he invents every possible device 
to engross the mind. There has ever been a class professing^ 
godliness, who, instead of following on to know the truth r 
make it their religion to seek some fault of character or 
error of faith in those with whom they do not agree. Such 
are Satan's right-hand helpers. Accusers of the brethren 
are not few; and they are always active when God is at 
work, and his servants are rendering him true homage. 
They will put a false coloring upon the words and acts of 
those who love and obey the truth. They will represent 
the most earnest, zealous, self-denying servants of Christ as 
deceived or deceivers. It is their work to misrepresent the 
motives of every true and noble deed, to circulate insinua- 
tions, and arouse suspicion in the minds of the inexperienced. 
In every conceivable manner they will seek to cause that 
which is pure and righteous to be regarded as foul and de- 
ceptive. 

But none need be deceived concerning them. It may be 
readily seen whose children they are, whose example they 
follow, and whose work they do. " Ye shall know them 

37 



520 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



by their fruits." * Their course resembles that of Satan, the 
envenomed slanderer, "the accuser of our brethren." 2 

The great deceiver has many agents ready to present any 
and every kind of error to ensnare souls, — heresies prepared 
to suit the varied tastes and capacities of those whom he 
would ruin. It is his plan to bring into the church insin- 
cere, unregenerate elements that will encourage doubt and 
unbelief, and hinder all who desire to see the work of God 
advance, and to advance with it. Many who have no real 
faith in God or in his Word, assent to some principles of 
truth, and pass as Christians; and thus they are enabled to 
introduce their errors as scriptural doctrines. 

The position that it is of no consequence what men be- 
lieve, is one of Satan's most successful deceptions. He knows 
that the truth, received in the love of it, sanctifies the soul 
of the receiver; therefore he is constantly seeking to sub- 
stitute false theories, fables, another gospel. From the be- 
ginning, the servants of God have contended against false 
teachers, not merely as vicious men, but as inculcators of 
falsehoods that were fatal to the soul. Elijah, Jeremiah, 
Paul, firmly and fearlessly opposed those who were turning 
men from the Word of God. That liberality wdiich regards 
a correct religious faith as unimportant, found no favor with 
these holy defenders of the truth. 

The vague and. fanciful interpretations of Scripture, and 
the many conflicting theories concerning religious faith, that 
are found in the Christian world, are the work of our great 
adversary to so confuse minds that they shall not discern 
the truth. And the discord and division which exist among 
the churches of Christendom are in a great measure due to 
the prevailing custom of wresting the Scriptures to support 
a favorite theory. Instead of carefully studying God's Word 
with humility of heart to obtain a knowledge of his will, 
many seek only to discover something odd or original. 

In order to sustain erroneous doctrines or unchristian 

iMatt. 7 :16. 2 Rev. 12:10. 



SNARES OF SA TAN. 521 

practices, some will seize upon passages of Scripture sep- 
arated from the context, perhaps quoting half of a single 
verse as proving their point, when the remaining portion 
would show the meaning to be quite the opposite. With 

the en nning of the serpent, they entrench themselves behind 
disconnected utterances construed to suit their carnal de- 
sires. Thus do many willfully pervert the Word of God. 
Others, who have an active imagination,, seize upon the 
figures and symbols of Holy Writ, interpret to suit their 
fancy, with little regard to the testimony of Scripture as its 
own interpreter, and then they present their vagaries as the 
teachings of the Bible. 

Whenever the study of the Scriptures is entered upon 
without a prayerful, humble, teachable spirit, the plainest 
and simplest as well as the most difficult passages will be 
wrested from their true meaning. The papal leaders select 
such portions of Scripture as best serve their purpose, in- 
terpret to suit themselves, and then present these to the 
people, while they deny them the privilege of studying the 
Bible, and understanding its sacred truths for themselves. 
The whole Bible should be given to the people just as it 
reads. It would be better for them not to have Bible in- 
struction at all than to have the teaching of the Scriptures 
thus grossly misrepresented. 

The Bible was designed to be a guide to all who wish to 
become acquainted with the will of their Maker. God gave 
to men the sure word of prophecy ; angels and even Christ 
himself came to make known to Daniel and John the things 
that must shortly come to pass. Those important matters 
that concern our salvation were not left involved in mystery. 
They were not revealed in such a way as to perplex and 
mislead the honest seeker after truth. Said the Lord by 
the prophet Habakkuk, "Write the vision, and make it 
plain, . . . that he may run that readeth it." l The 
Word of God is plain to all who study it with a prayerful 

1 Hab. 2 : 2. 



522 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



heart. Every truly honest soul will come to the light of 
truth. " Light is sown for the righteous." l And no church 
can advance in holiness unless its members are earnestly 
seeking for truth as for hid treasure. 

By the cry, Liberality, men are blinded to the devices of 
their adversary, while he is all the time working steadily 
for the accomplishment of his object. As he succeeds in 
supplanting the Bible by human speculations, the law of 
God is set aside, and the churches are under the bondage 
of sin while they claim to be free. 

To many, scientific research has become a curse. God- 
has permitted a flood of light to be poured upon the world 
in discoveries in science and art; but even the greatest 
minds, if not guided by the Word of God in their research, 
become bewildered in their attempts to investigate the re- 
lations of science and revelation. 

Human knowledge of both material and spiritual things 
is partial and imperfect; therefore many are unable to har- 
monize their views of science with Scripture statements. 
Many accept mere theories and speculations as scientific 
facts, and they think that God's Word is to be tested by the 
teachings of "science falsely so called." The Creator and 
his works are beyond their comprehension; and because 
they cannot explain these by natural laws, Bible history is 
regarded as unreliable. Those who doubt the reliability of 
the records of the Old and New Testaments too often go a 
step farther, and doubt the existence of Gocl, and attribute 
infinite power to nature. Having let go their anchor, they 
are left to beat about upon the rocks of infidelity. 

Thus many err from the faith, and are seduced by tho 
devil. Men have endeavored to be wiser than their Creator; 
human philosophy has attempted to search out and explain 
mysteries which will never be revealed, through the eternal 
ages. If men would but search and understand what God 
has made known of himself and his purposes, they would 
obtain such a view of the glory, majesty, and power of Je- 

x Ps. 97:11. 



SNARES OF SATAN. 523 

hovah, that they would realize their own littleness, and 
would he content with that which has been revealed for 
themselves and their children. 

It is a masterpiece of Satan's deceptions to keep the minds 
of men searching and conjecturing in regard to that which 
God has not made known, and which he does not intend 
that we shall understand. It was thus that Lucifer lost his 
place in Heaven. He became dissatisfied because all the 
secrets of God's purposes were not confided to him, and he 
entirely disregarded that which was revealed concerning his 
own work in the lofty position assigned him. By arousing 
the same discontent in the angels under his command, he 
caused their fall. Now he seeks to imbue the minds of men 
with the same spirit, and to lead them also to disregard the 
•direct commands of God. 

Those who are unwilling to accept the plain, cutting truths 
of the Bible, are continually seeking for pleasing fables that 
will quiet the conscience. The less spiritual, self-denying, 
and humiliating the doctrines presented, the greater the 
favor with which they are received. These persons degrade 
the intellectual powers to serve their carnal desires. Too 
wise in their own conceit to search the Scriptures with con- 
trition of soul and earnest prayer for divine guidance, they 
have no shield from delusion. Satan is ready to supply the 
heart's desire, and he palms off his deceptions in the place 
of truth. It was thus that the papacy gained its power over 
the minds of men ; and by rejection of the truth because it 
involves a cross, Protestants are following the same path. 
All who neglect the Word of God to study convenience and 
policy, that they may not be at variance with the world, 
will be left to receive damnable heresy for religious truth. 
Every conceivable form of error will be accepted by those 
who willfully reject the truth. He who looks with horror 
"upon one deception will readily receive another. The 
apostle Paul, speaking of a class who "received not the 
love of the truth, that they might be saved," declares, 



524 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

" For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that 
they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned 
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unright- 
eousness." 1 With such a warning before us, it behooves us 
to be on our guard as to what doctrines we receive. 

Among the most successful agencies of the great deceiver 
are the delusive teachings and lying wonders of Spiritualism. 
Disguised as an angel of light, he spreads his nets where 
least suspected. If men would but study the Book of God 
with earnest prayer that they might understand it, they 
would not be left in darkness to receive false doctrines. But 
as they reject the truth, they fall a prey to deception. 

Another dangerous error, is the doctrine that denies the 
divinity of Christy claiming that he had no existence before 
his advent to this world. This theory is received with favor 
by a large class who profess to believe the Bible; yet it 
directly contradicts the plainest statements of our Saviour 
concerning his relationship with the Father, his divine char- 
acter, and his pre-existence. It cannot be entertained with- 
out the most unwarranted wresting of the Scriptures. It 
not only lowers man's conceptions of the work of redemp- 
tion, but undermines faith in the Bible as a revelation from 
God. While this renders it the more dangerous, it makes 
it also harder to meet. If men reject the testimony of the 
inspired Scriptures concerning the divinity of Christ, it is 
in vain to argue the point with them; for no argument 
however conclusive, could convince them. "The natural 
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they 
are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, be- 
cause they are spiritually discerned.'' 2 None who hold this 
error can have a true conception of the character or the 
mission of Christ, or of the great plan of God for man's re- 
demption. 

Still another subtle and mischievous error is the fast- 
spreading belief that Satan has no existence as a personal 

1 2 Thess. 2 : 10-12. 2 1 Cor. 2 : 14. 



SNARES OF SA TAN. 525 

being; that the name is used in Scripture merely to rep- 
resent men's evil thoughts and desires. 

The teaching so widely echoed from popular pulpits, that 
the second advent of Christ is his coming to each individual 
at death, is a device to divert the minds of men from his 
personal coming in the clouds of heaven. For years Satan 
has thus been saying, "Behold, he is in the secret cham- 
bers;" 1 and many souls have been lost by accepting this 
deception. 

Again, worldly wisdom teaches that prayer is not essential. 
Men of science claim that there can be no real answer to 
prayer; that this would be a violation of law, a miracle, and 
that miracles have no existence. The universe, say they, 
is governed by fixed laws, and God himself does nothing 
contrary to these laws. Thus they represent God as bound 
by his own laws ; as if the operation of divine laws could 
exclude divine freedom. Such teaching is opposed to the 
testimony of the Scriptures, Were not miracles wrought 
by Christ and his apostles ? The same compassionate Sav- 
iour lives to-day, and he is as willing to listen to the prayer 
of faith as when he walked visibly among men. The natural 
co-operates with the supernatural. It is a part of God's 
plan to grant us, in answer to the prayer of faith, that 
which he would not bestow did we not thus ask. 

Innumerable are the erroneous doctrines and. fanciful 
ideals that are obtaining among the churches of Christendom. 
It is impossible to estimate the evil results of removing one 
of the landmarks fixed by the Word of God. Few who 
venture to do this stop with the rejection of a single truth. 
The majority continue to set aside one after another of the 
principles of truth, until they become actual infidels. 

The errors of popular theology have driven many a soul 
to skepticism, who might otherwise have been a believer in 
the Scriptures. It is impossible for him to accept doctrines 
which outrage his sense of justice, mercy, and benevolence; 

1 Matt. 24: 23-26. 



526 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

and since these are represented as the teaching of the Bible, 
he refuses to receive it as the Word of God. 

And this is the object which Satan seeks to accomplish. 
There is nothing that he desires more than to destroy con- 
fidence in God and in his Word. Satan stands at the head 
of the great army of doubters, and he works to the utmost 
of his power to beguile souls into his ranks. It is becoming 
fashionable to doubt. There is a large class by whom the 
Word of God is looked upon with distrust for the same 
reason as was its Author — because it reproves and condemns 
sin. Those who are unwilling to obey its requirements en- 
deavor to overthrow its authority. They read the Bible, or 
listen to its teachings as presented from the sacred desk, 
merely to find fault with the Scriptures or with the sermon. 
Not a few become infidels in order to justify or excuse them- 
selves- in neglect of duty. Others adopt skeptical principles 
from pride and indolence. Too ease-loving to distinguish 
themselves by accomplishing anything worthy of honor, 
which requires effort and self-denial, they aim to secure a 
reputation for superior wisdom by criticising the Bible. 
There is much which the finite mind, unenlightened by 
divine wisdom, is powerless to comprehend; and thus they 
find occasion to criticise. There are many who seem to feel 
that it is a virtue to stand on the side of unbelief, skepticism, 
and infidelity. But underneath an appearance of candor, 
it will be found that such persons are actuated by self- 
confidence and pride. Many delight in finding something 
in the Scriptures to puzzle the minds of others. Some at 
first criticise and reason on the wrong side, from a mere love 
of controversy. They do not realize that they are thus en- 
tangling themselves in the snare of the fowler. But having 
openly expressed unbelief, they feel that they must main- 
tain their position. Thus they unite with the ungodly, and 
close to themselves the gates of Paradise. 

God has given in his Word sufficient evidence of its divine 
character. The great truths which concern our redemption 



SNARES OF SA TAN. 527 

are clearly presented. By the aid of the Holy Spirit, which 
is promised to all who seek it in sincerity, every man may 
understand these truths for himself. God has granted to 
men a strong foundation upon which to rest their faith. 

Yet the finite minds of men are inadequate fully to com- 
prehend the plans and purposes of the Infinite One. We 
can never by searching find out God. We must not attempt 
to lift with presumptuous hand the curtain, behind which 
he veils his majesty. The apostle exclaims, "How un- 
searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding 
out ! " l We can so far comprehend his dealings with us, and 
the motives by which he is actuated, that we may discern 
boundless love and mercy united to infinite power. Our 
Father in Heaven orders everything in wisdom and right- 
eousness, and we are not to be dissatisfied and distrustful, 
but to bow in reverent submission. He will reveal to us 
as much of his purposes as it is for our good to know, and 
beyond that we must trust the Hand that is omnipotent, the 
Heart that is full of love. 

While God has given ample evidence for faith, he will 
never remove all excuse for unbelief. All who look for 
hooks to hang their doubts upon, will find them. And 
those who refuse to accept and obey God's Word until every 
objection has been removed, and there is no longer an oppor- 
tunity for doubt, will never come to the light. 

Distrust of God is the natural outgrowth of the unrenewed 
heart, which is at enmity with him. But faith is inspired 
by the Holy Spirit, and it will flourish only as it is cher- 
ished. No man can become strong in faith without a deter- 
mined effort. Unbelief strengthens as it is encouraged; and 
if men, instead of dwelling upon the evidences which God 
has given to sustain their faith, will permit themselves to 
question and cavil, they will find their doubts constantly 
becoming more confirmed. 

But those who doubt God's promises, and distrust the 
assurance of his grace, are dishonoring him; and their in- 
born. 11 : 33. 



528 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



fluence, instead of drawing others to Christ, tends to repel 
them from him. They are unproductive trees, that spread 
their dark branches far and wide, shutting away the sun- 
light from other plants, and causing them to droop and die 
under the chilling shadow. The life-work of these jiersons 
will appear as a never-ceasing witness against them. They 
are sowing seeds of doubt and skepticism that will yield an 
unfailing harvest. 

There is but one course for those to pursue who honestly 
desire to be freed from doubts. Instead of questioning and 
caviling concerning that which they do not understand, let 
them gn^e heed to the light which already shines upon 
them, and they will receive greater light. Let them do 
every duty which has been made plain to their under- 
standing, and they will be enabled to understand and per- 
form those of which they are now in doubt, 

Satan can present a counterfeit so closely resembling the 
truth that it deceives those who are willing to be deceived, 
who desire to shun the self-denial and sacrifice demanded by 
the truth ; but it is impossible for him to hold under his 
power one soul who honestly desires, at whatever cost, to 
know the truth. Christ is the truth, and the "light which, 
lighteth every man that cometh into the world." 1 The 
Spirit of truth has been sent, to guide men into all truth. 
And upon the authority of the Son of God it is declared, 
" Seek, and ye shall find." " If any man will do His will, he 
shall know of the doctrine." 2 

The followers of Christ know little of the plots which 
Satan and his hosts are forming against them. But He who 
sitteth in the heavens will overrule all these devices for the 
accomplishment of his deep designs. The Lord permits his 
people to be subjected to the fiery ordeal of temptation, not 
because he takes pleasure in their distress and affliction, but 
because this process is essential to their final victory. He 
could not, consistently with his own glory, shield them from 

1 John 1:9. 2 Matt. 7:7: John 7 : 17. 



SNARES OF SA TAX. 520 

temptation; for the very object of the trial is to prepare 
them to resist all the allurements of evil. 

Neither wicked men nor devils eaii hinder the work of 
God or shut out his presence from his people, if they will, 
with subdued, contrite hearts, confess and put away their 
sins, and in faith claim his promises. Every temptation, 
every opposing influence, whether open or secret, may be 
successfully resisted, ''not by might, nor by power, but by 
my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts/* 1 

"The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his 
ears are open unto their prayers. . . . And who is he 
that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" 2 
When Balaam, allured by the promise of rich rewards, prac- 
ticed enchantments against Israel, and by sacrifices to the 
Lord, sought to invoke a curse upon his people, the Spirit 
of God forbade the evil which he longed to pronounce, and 
Balaam was forced to exclaim, " How shall I curse, whom 
God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord 
hath not defied? " " Let me die the death of the righteous. 
and let my last end be like his!'' "When sacrifice had 
again been offered, the ungodly prophet declared : " Behold, 
I have received commandment to bless; and he hath blessed; 
and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in 
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel; the Lord 
his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among 
them." " Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, 
neither is there any divination against Israel. According 
to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel. What 
hath God wrought!" 3 Yet a third altar was erected, and 
again Balaam essayed to secure a curse. But from the un- 
willing lips of the prophet, the Spirit of God declared the 
prosperity of his chosen, and rebuked the folly and malice 
of their foes: "Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed 
is he that curseth thee." 3 

The people of Israel were at this time loyal to God : and 

^ecb. 4:6. 2 1 Pet. 3:32,13. 3 Num. 23 : 8, 10, 20, 21, 23 ; 24 : 9. 



530 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

so long as they continued in obedience to his law, no power 
in earth or hell could prevail against them. But the curse 
which Balaam had not been permitted to pronounce against 
God's people, he finally succeeded in bringing upon them 
by seducing them into sin. When they transgressed God's 
commandments, then they separated themselves from him, 
and they were left to feel the power of the destroyer. 

Satan is well aware that the weakest soul who abides in 
Christ is more than a match for the hosts of darkness, and 
that, should he reveal himself openly, he would be met and 
resisted. Therefore he seeks to draw away the soldiers of 
the cross from their strong fortification, while he lies in 
ambush with his forces, ready to destroy all who venture 
upon his ground. -. Only in humble reliance upon God, and 
obedience to all his commandments, can we be secure. No 
man. is safe for a day or an hour without prayer. Especially 
should we entreat the Lord for wisdom to understand his 
Word. Here are revealed the wiles of the tempter, and the 
means by which he may be successfully resisted. Satan is 
an expert in quoting Scripture, placing his own interpre- 
tation upon passages by which he hopes to cause us to 
stumble. We should study the Bible with humility of 
heart, never losing sight of our dependence upon God. 
While we must constantly guard against the devices of 
Satan, we should pray in faith continually, " Lead us not 
into temptation." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 

With the earliest history of man, Satan began his efforts 
to deceive our race. He who had incited rebellion in Heaven 
desired to bring the inhabitants of the earth to unite with 
him in his warfare against the government of God. Adam 
and Eve had been perfectly happy in obedience to the law 
of God, and this fact was a constant testimony against the 
claim which Satan had urged in Heaven, that God's law was 
oppressive, and opposed to the good of his creatures. And,, 
furthermore, Satan's envy was excited as he looked upon 
the beautiful home prepared for the sinless pair. He deter- 
mined to cause their fall, that, having separated them from 
God, and brought them under his own power, he might gain 
possession of the earth, and here establish his kingdom, in 
opposition to the Most High. 

Had Satan revealed himself in his real character, he 
would have been repulsed at once, for Adam and Eve had 
been warned against this dangerous foe; but he worked in 
the dark, concealing his purpose, that he might more effect- 
ually accomplish his object. Employing as his medium the 
serpent, then a creature of fascinating appearance, he ad- 
dressed himself to Eve, " Hath God said, Ye shall not eat 
of every tree of the garden ? " x Had Eve refrained from 
entering into argument with the tempter, she would have 
been safe; but she ventured to parley with him, and fell a 
victim to his wiles. It is thus that many are still overcome. 
They doubt and argue concerning the requirements of God, 

^en. 3:1. 

(531) 



532 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

and instead of obeying the divine commands, they accept 
human theories, which but disguise the devices of Satan. 

"The woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the 
fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree 
which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye 
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And 
the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; 
for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your 
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good 
and evil." 1 He declared that they would become like God, 
possessing greater wisdom than before, and being capable 
of a higher state of existence. Eve yielded to temptation ; 
and through her influence, Adam was led into sin. They 
accepted the words of the serpent, that God did not mean 
what he said; they distrusted their Creator, and imagined 
that he was restricting their liberty, and that they might 
obtain great wisdom and exaltation by transgressing his law. 

But what did Adam, after his sin, find to be the meaning 
of the words, " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shaft 
surely die"? Did he find them to mean, as Satan had led 
him to believe, that he was to be ushered into a more ex- 
alted state of existence? Then indeed there was great 
good to be gained by transgression, and Satan was proved 
to be a benefactor of the race. But Adam did not find this 
to be the meaning of the divine sentence. God declared 
that' as a penalty for his sin, man should return to the 
ground whence he was taken: "Dust thou art, and unto 
dust shalt thou return."" 2 The words of Satan, "Your eyes 
shall be opened," proved to be true in this sense only: After 
Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, their eyes were opened 
to discern their folly ; they did know evil, and they tasted 
the bitter fruit of transgression. 

In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, whose fruit 
had the power of perpetuating life. Had Adam remained 
obedient to God, he would have continued to enjoy free 

i Gen. 3:2-5. 2 Gen. 3:19. 



THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 533 

access to this tree, and would have lived forever. But when 
he sinned, he was cut off from partaking of the tree of life, 
and he became subject to death. The divine sentence, " Dust 
thou art, and unto dust shaft thou return," points to the 
utter extinction of life. 

Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, 
had been forfeited by transgression. Adam could not trans- 
mit to his posterity that which he did not possess; and there 
could have been no hope for the fallen race, had not God, 
by the sacrifice of his Son, brought immortality within their 
reach. While "death passed upon all men, for that all 
have sinned," Christ "hath brought life and immortality 
to light through the gospel." 1 And only through Christ 
can immortality be obtained. Said Jesus, " He that believeth 
on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not 
the Son shall not see life." 2 Every man may come in pos- 
session of this priceless blessing if he will comply with the 
conditions. All "who by patient continuance in well-doing 
seek for glory and honor and immortality," will receive 
eternal life. 3 

The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience 
was the great deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent 
to Eve in Eden, — " Ye shall not surely die," — was the first 
sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul. 
Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of 
Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom, and is re- 
ceived by the majority of mankind as readily as it was 
received by our first parents. The divine sentence, " The 
soul that sinneth, it shall die," i is made to mean, The soul 
that sinneth, it shall not die, but live eternally. We cannot 
but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders men 
so credulous concerning the words of Satan, and so unbe- 
lieving in regard to the words of God. 

Had man, after his fall, been allowed free access to the 

1 Rom. 5:12; 2 Tim. 1:10. 2 John 3: 36. 3 Rom. 2:7. 

*Eze. 18:20. 



534 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

tree of life, he would have lived forever, and thus sin would 
have been immortalized. But cherubim and a flaming 
sword kept "the way of the tree of life," 1 and not one of the 
family of Adam has been permitted to pass that barrier and 
partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is not an 
immortal sinner. 

But after the fall, Satan bade his angels make a special 
effort to inculcate the belief in man's natural immortality; 
and having induced the people to receive this error, they 
were to lead them on to conclude that the sinner would live 
in eternal misery. Now the prince of darkness, working 
through his agents, represents God as a revengeful tyrant, 
declaring that he plunges into hell all those who do not 
please him, and causes them ever to feel his wrath; and 
that while they suffer unutterable anguish, and writhe in 
the eternal flames, their Creator looks down upon them with 
satisfaction. 

Thus the arch-fiend clothes with his own attributes the 
Creator and Benefactor of mankind. Cruelty is Satanic. 
God is love; and all that he created was pure, holy, and 
lovely, until sin was brought in by the first great rebel. 
Satan himself is the enemy who tempts man to sin, and 
then destroys him if he can; and when he has made sure 
of his victim, then he exults in the ruin he has wrought. 
If permitted, he would sweep the entire race into his net. 
Were it not for the interposition of divine power, not one 
son or daughter of Adam would escape. 

He is seeking to overcome men to-day, as he overcame 
our first parents, by shaking their confidence in their Creator, 
and leading them to doubt the wisdom of his government 
and the justice of his laws. Satan and his emissaries rep- 
resent God as even worse than themselves, in order to justify 
their own malignity and rebellion. The great deceiver 
endeavors to shift his own horrible cruelty of character 
upon our heavenly Father, that he may cause himself to ap- 

iGen. 3:24. 



THE FIRST GREA T DECEPTION. 535 



pear as one greatly wronged by his expulsion from Heaven 
because he would not submit to so unjust a governor. He 
presents before the world the liberty which they may enjoy 
under Ids mild sway, in contrast with the bondage imposed 
by the stern decrees of Jehovah. Thus he succeeds in luring 
souls away from their allegiance to God. 

How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and 
even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked 
dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally 
burning hell; that for the sins of a brief, earthly life they 
are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this 
doctrine has been widely taught, and is still embodied in 
many of the creeds of Christendom. Said a learned doctor 
of divinity : " The sight of hell-torments will exalt the hap- 
piness of the saints forever. When they see others who are 
of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, 
plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, it will 
make them sensible of how happy they are." Another used 
these words: "While the decree of reprobation is eternally 
executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their tor- 
ment will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of 
mercy, who, instead of taking the part of these miserable 
objects, will say, Amen, Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!" 

Where, in the pages of God's Word, is such teaching to be 
found? Will the redeemed in Heaven be lost to all emo- 
tions of pity and compassion, and even to feelings of common 
humanity? Are these to be exchanged for thje indifference 
of the stoic, or the cruelty of the savage? — No, no; such is 
not the teaching of the Book of God. Those who present* 
the views expressed in the quotations given above may be 
learned and even honest men; but they are deluded by the 
sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong 
expressions of Scripture, giving to the language the coloring 
of bitterness and malignity which pertains to himself, but 
not to our Creator. " As I live, saith the Lord God, I have 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked 

38 



536 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your 
evil ways; for why will ye die?" 1 

What would be gained to God should we admit that he 
delights in witnessing unceasing tortures; that he is regaled 
with the groans and shrieks and imprecations of the suf- 
fering creatures whom he holds in the flames of hell? Can 
these horrid sounds be music in the ear of Infinite Love? 
It is urged that the infliction of endless misery upon the 
wicked would show God's hatred of sin as an e\ul which is 
ruinous to the peace and order of the universe. Oh, dread- 
ful blasphemy! As if God's hatred of sin is the reason why 
he perpetuates sin. For, according to the teachings of these 
theologians, continued torture without hope of mercy mad- 
dens its wretcheel victims, and as they pour out their rage 
in curses and blasphemy, they are forever augmenting their 
load of guilt. God's glory is not enhanced by thus per- 
petuating continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages. 

It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate 
the evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal 
torment. The religion of the Bible, full of love and good- 
ness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by super- 
stition and clothed with terror. "When we consider in what 
false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we 
wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and 
even hated? The appalling views of God which have 
spread oxer the world from the teachings of the pulpit have 
made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels. 

The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines 
that constitute the wine of the abominations of Babylon, 
of which she makes all nations drink. 2 That ministers of 
Christ should have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it 
from the sacred desk, is indeed a mystery. They received 
it from Rome, as they received the false sabbath. True, 
it has been taught by great and good men; but the light 
on this subject had not come to them as it has come to us. 

1 Eze. 33:11. 2 Rev. 14:8; 17:2. 



THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 537 

They were responsible only for the light which shone in 
their time; we are accountable for that which shines in our 
day. If we turn from the testimony of God's Word, and 
accept false doctrines because our fathers taught them, we 
fall under the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon; 
we are drinking of the wine of her abominations. 

A large class to whom the doctrine of eternal torment is 
revolting, are driven to the opposite error. They see that 
the Scriptures represent God as a being of love and com- 
passion, and they cannot believe that he will consign his 
creatures to the fires of an eternally burning hell. But, 
holding that the soul is naturally immortal, they see no 
alternative but to conclude that all mankind will finally be 
saved. Many regard the threatenings of the Bible as de- 
signed merely to frighten men into obedience, and not to 
be literally fulfilled. Thus the sinner can live in selfish 
pleasure, disregarding the requirements of God, and yet 
expect to be finally received into his favor. Such a doc- 
trine, presuming upon God's mercy, but ignoring his justice, 
pleases the carnal heart, and emboldens the wicked in their 
iniquity. 

To show how believers in universal salvation wrest the 
Scriptures to sustain their soul-destroying dogmas, it is 
needful only to cite their own utterances. At the funeral 
of an irreligious young man, who had been killed instantly 
by an accident, a Universalist minister selected as his text 
the Scripture statement concerning David, " He was com- 
forted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead." 1 

" I am frequently asked," said the speaker, "what will be 
the fate of those who leave the world in sin, die, perhaps, 
in a state of inebriation, die with the scarlet stains of crime 
unwashed from their robes, or die as this young man died, 
having never made a profession or enjoyed an experience 
of religion. TTe are content with the Scriptures; their 
answer shall solve the awful problem. Amnon was exceecl- 

l 2 Sam. 13:39. 



538 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

ingly sinful; he was unrepentant, he was made drunk, and 
while drunk was killed. David was a prophet of God ; he 
must have known whether it would be ill or well for Amnon 
in the world to come. What were the expressions of his 
heart? — 'The soul of King David longed to go forth unto 
Absalom; for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing 
he was dead.' 

" And what is the inference to be deduced from this 
language ? Is it not that endless suffering formed no part 
of his religious belief? — So we conceive; and here we dis- 
cover a triumphant argument in support of the more pleas- 
ing, more enlightened, more benevolent hypothesis of ulti- 
mate universal purity and peace. He was comforted, seeing 
his son was dead. And why so ? — Because by the eye of 
prophecy he could look forward into the glorious future, 
and see that son far removed from all temptations, released 
from the bondage and purified from the corruptions of sin, 
and after being made sufficiently holy and enlightened, 
admitted to the assembly of ascended and rejoicing spirits. 
His only comfort was, that in being removed from the 
present state of sin and suffering, his beloved son had gone 
where the loftiest breathings of the Holy Spirit would be 
shed upon his darkened soul; where his mind would be 
unfolded to the wisdom of Heaven and the sweet raptures 
of immortal love, and thus prepared with a sanctified nature 
to enjoy the rest and society of the heavenly inheritance. 

"In these thoughts we would be understood to believe 
that the salvation of Heaven depends upon nothing which 
we can do in this life; neither upon a present change of 
heart, nor upon present belief, or^a present profession of 
religion." 

Thus does the professed minister of Christ reiterate the 
falsehood uttered by the serpent in Eden, — " Ye shall not 
surely die." "In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes 
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods." He declares that 
the vilest of sinners, — the murderer, the thief, and the adul- 



THE FIRST GREA T DECEPTION. 539 

terer, — will after death be prepared to enter into immortal 
bliss. 

And from what does this perverter of the Scriptures draw 
his conclusions? — From a single sentence expressing David's 
submission to the dispensation of Providence. His soul 
" longed to go forth unto Absalom; for he was comforted 
concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead." The poignancy 
of his grief having been softened by time, his thoughts 
turned from the dead to the living son, self-banished through 
fear of the just punishment of his crime. And this is the 
evidence that the incestuous, drunken Amnon was at death 
immediately transported to the abodes of bliss, there to be 
purified and prepared for the companionship of sinless 
angels! A pleasing fable indeed, well suited to gratify the 
carnal heart ! This is Satan's own doctrine, and it does his 
work effectually. Should we be surprised that, with such 
instruction, wickedness abounds ? 

The course pursued by this one false teacher illustrates 
that of many others. A few words of Scripture are sep- 
arated from the context, which would, in many cases, show 
their meaning to be exactly opposite to the interpretation 
put upon them; and such disjointed passages are perverted 
and used in proof of doctrines that have no foundation in 
the Word of God. The testimony cited as evidence that the 
drunken Amnon is in Heaven, is a mere inference, directly 
contradicted by the plain and positive statement of the 
Scriptures, that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of 
God. 1 It is thus that doubters, unbelievers, and skeptics 
turn the truth into a lie. And multitudes have been de- 
ceived by their sophistry, and rocked to sleep in the cradle 
of carnal security. 

If it were true that the souls of all men passed directly 
to Heaven at the hour of dissolution, then we might well 
covet death rather than life. Mam^ have been led by this 
belief to put an end to their existence. When overwhelmed 
with trouble, perplexity, and disappointment, it seems an 

1 1 Cor. G : 10. 



540 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

easy thing to break the brittle thread of life, and soar away 
into the bliss of the eternal world. 

God has given in his Word decisive evidence that he will 
punish the transgressors of his law. Those who flatter 
themselves that he is too merciful to execute justice upon 
the sinner, have only to look to the cross of Calvary. The 
death of the spotless Son of God testifies that "the wages of 
sin is death," that every violation of God's law must receive 
its just retribution. Christ the sinless became sin for man. 
He bore the guilt of transgression, and the hiding of his 
Father's face, until his heart was broken and his life crushed 
out. All this sacrifice was made that sinners might be re- 
deemed. In no other way could man be freed from the 
penalty of sin. And every soul that refuses to become a 
partaker of the atonement provided at such a cost, must 
bear, in his own person, the guilt and punishment of trans- 
gression. 

Let us consider what the Bible teaches further concerning 
the ungodly and unrepentant, whom the Universalist places 
in Heaven as holy, happy angels. 

" I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the 
water of life freely." l This promise is only to those that 
thirst. None but those who feel their need of the water of 
life, and seek it at the loss of all things else, will be supplied. 
" He that overcometh shall inherit all things ; and I will be 
his God, and he shall be my son." 1 Here, also, conditions 
are specified. In order to inherit all things, we must resist 
and overcome sin. 

The Lord declares by the prophet Isaiah, " Say ye to the 
righteous, that it shall be well with him." "Woe unto the 
wicked! it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands 
shall be given him." 2 " Though a sinner do evil a hundred 
times," says the wise man, "and his days be prolonged, yet 
surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, 
which fear before him; but it shall not be well with the 

x Eev. 21:6, 7. 2 Isa. 3:10, 11. 



THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 541 

wicked." 1 And Paul testifies that the sinner is treasuring 
up unto himself " wrath against the day of wrath and reve- 
lation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render 
to every man according to his deeds;" "tribulation and 
anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil." 2 

" No fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, 
which is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom 
of Christ and God." 3 "Follow peace with all men, and 
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." 4 
"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they 
may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through 
the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, 
and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and who- 
soever loveth and maketh a lie." 5 

God has given to men a declaration of his character, and 
of his method of dealing with sin. " The Lord God, mer- 
ciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness 
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity 
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear 
the guilty." 6 "All the wicked will he destroy." "The 
transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the 
wicked shall be cut off." 7 The power and authority of the 
divine government will be employed to put down rebellion; 
yet all the manifestations of retributive justice will be per- 
fectly consistent with the character of God as a merciful, 
long-suffering, benevolent being. 

God does not force the will or judgment of any. He takes 
no pleasure in a slavish obedience. He desires that the 
creatures of his hands shall love him because he is worthy 
of love. He would have them obey him because they have 
an intelligent appreciation of his wisdom, justice, and benev- 
olence. And all who have a just conception of these qual- 
ities will love him because they are drawn toward him in 
admiration of his attributes. 

i Eccl. 8 : 12, 13. 2 R om . 2 : 5, 6, 9. 3 Eph. 5 : 5, Revised Version. 
^Heb. 12:14. 5 Rev. 22 : 14, 15. 6 Ex. 34 : 6, 7. 

7 Ps. 145:20; 37:38. 



542 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

The principles of kindness, mercy, and love, taught and 
exemplified by our Saviour, are a transcript of the will and 
character of God. Christ declared that he taught nothing 
except that which he had received from his Father. The 
principles of the divine government are in perfect harmony 
with the Saviour's precept, " Love your enemies." God exe- 
cutes justice upon the wicked, for the good of the universe, 
and even for the good of those upon whom his judgments 
are visited. He would make them happy if he could do so 
in accordance with the laws of his government and the 
justice of his character. He surrounds them with the tokens 
of his love, he grants them a knowledge of his law, and 
follows them with the offers of his mercy; but they despise 
his love, make void his law, and reject his mercy. While 
constantly receiving his gifts, they dishonor the Giver; they 
hate God because they know that he abhors their sins. The 
Lord bears long with their perversity; but the decisive hour 
will come at last, when their destiny is to be decided. Will 
he then chain these rebels to his side ? Will he force them 
to do his will ? 

Those who have chosen Satan as their leader, and have 
been controlled by his power, are not prepared to enter the 
presence of God. Pride, deception, licentiousness, cruelty, 
have become fixed in their characters. Can they enter 
Heaven, to dwell forever with those whom they despised 
and hated on earth? Truth will never be agreeable to a 
liar; meekness will not satisfy self-esteem and pride; purity 
is not acceptable to the corrupt; disinterested love does not 
appear attractive to the selfish. What source of enjoyment 
could Heaven offer to those who are wholly absorbed in 
earthly and selfish interests? 

Could those whose lives have been spent in rebellion 
against God be suddenly transported to Heaven, and witness 
the high, the holy state of perfection that ever exists there, — 
every soul filled with love; every countenance beaming with 
joy; enrapturing music in melodious strains rising in honor 



THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 543 

of God and the Lamb; and ceaseless streams of light flowing 
upon the redeemed from the face of Him who sitteth upon 
the throne, — could those whose hearts are filled with hatred 
of God, of truth and holiness, mingle with the heavenly 
throng and join their songs of praise? Could they endure 
the glory of God and the Lamb? — No, no; years of proba- 
tion were granted them, that they might form characters 
for Heaven; but they have never trained the mind to love 
purity; they have never learned the language of Heaven, 
and now it is too late. A life of rebellion against God has 
unfitted them for Heaven. Its purity, holiness, and peace 
would be torture to them; the glory of God would be a 
consuming fire. They would long to flee from that holy 
place. They w T ould welcome destruction, that they might 
be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them. 
The destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice. 
Their exclusion from Heaven is voluntary with themselves, 
and just and merciful on the part of God. 

Like the waters of the flood, the fires of the gfeat day 
declare God's verdict that the wicked are incurable. They 
have no disposition to submit to divine authority. Their 
will has been exercised in revolt; and when life is ended, 
it is too late to turn the current of their thoughts in the 
opposite direction, — too late to turn from transgression to 
obedience, from hatred to love. 

In sparing the life of Cain the murderer, God gave the 
world an example of what would be the result of permitting 
the sinner to live, to continue a course of unbridled iniquity. 
Through the influence of Cain's teaching and example, 
multitudes of his descendants were led into sin, until " the 
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every im- 
agination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con- 
tinually." " The earth also was corrupt before God, and the 
earth was filled with violence." 1 

In mercy to the world, God blotted out its wicked in- 
habitants in Noah's time. In mercy he destroyed the cor- 

^en. 6 :5, 11. 



544 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

rupt dwellers in Sodom. Through the deceptive power of 
Satan, the workers of iniquity obtain sympathy and ad- 
miration, and are thus constantly leading others to rebellion. 
It was so in Cain's and in Noah's day, and in the time of 
Abraham and Lot; it is so in our time. It is in mercy 
to the universe that God will finally destroy the rejecters 
of his grace. 

" The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal 
life through Jesus Christ our Lord." l While life is the in- 
heritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. 
Moses declared to Israel, " I have set before thee this day 
life and good, and death and evil." 2 The death referred to 
in these scriptures is not that pronounced upon Adam, for 
all mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression. It is 
the " second death " that is placed in contrast with ever- 
lasting life. 

In consequence of Adam's sin, death passed upon the 
whole human race. All alike go down into the grave. 
And through the provisions of the plan of salvation, all 
are to be brought forth from their graves. " There shall 
be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust;" 5 
" for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
alive." i But a distinction is made between the two classes 
that are brought forth. " All that are in the graves shall 
hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done 
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done 
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." 5 They who have 
been " accounted worthy " of the resurrection of life are 
"blessed and holy." "On such the second death hath no 
power." 6 But those who have not, through repentance and 
faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of trans- 
gression, — "the wages of sin." They suffer punishment 
varying in duration and intensity, " according to their 
works," but finally ending in the second death. Since it is 

1 Rom. 6 : 23. * Deut. 30 : 1 5. 3 Acts 24 : 1 5. 

* 1 Cor. 15 : 22. 5 John 5 : 28, 29. 6 Rev. 20 : 6. 



THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 545 

impossible for God, consistently with his justice and mercy, 
to save the sinner in his sins, he deprives him of the ex- 
istence which his transgressions have forfeited, and of which 
he has proved himself unworthy. Says an inspired writer, 
"Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou 
shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.'' 
And another declares, " They shall be as though they had 
not been." 1 Covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, 
eternal oblivion. 

Thus will be made an end of sin, with all the woe and 
ruin which have resulted from it. Says the psalmist : " Thou 
hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name 
forever and ever. thou enemy, destructions are come to 
a perpetual end." 2 John, in the Revelation, looking for- 
ward to the eternal state, hears a universal anthem of praise, 
undisturbed by one note of discord. Every creature in 
Heaven and earth w T as heard ascribing glory to God. 3 There 
will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God, as they writhe 
in never-ending torment; no wretched beings in hell will 
mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved. 

Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests 
the doctrine of consciousness in death, a doctrine, like eternal 
torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the 
dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity. Ac- 
cording to the popular belief, the redeemed in Heaven are 
acquainted with all that takes place on the earth, and es- 
pecially with the lives of the friends whom they have left 
behind. But how could it be a source of happiness to the 
dead to know the troubles of the living, to witness the sins 
committed by their own loved ones, and to see them endur- 
ing all the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life? 
How much of Heaven's bliss would be enjoyed by those 
who were hovering over their friends on earth ? And how 
utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath 
leaves the body, the soul of the impenitent is consigned to 

1 Prf. 37 : 10 ; Obad. 16. 2 Ps. 9 : 5, 6. 3 Rev. 5 : 13. 



546 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



the flames of hell! To what depths of anguish must those 
be plunged who see their friends passing to the grave un- 
prepared, to enter upon an eternity of woe and sin ! Many 
have been driven to insanity by this harrowing thought. 

What say the Scriptures concerning these things ? David 
declares that man is not conscious in death. " His breath 
goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his 
thoughts perish." 1 Solomon bears the same testimony: 
"The living know that they shall die; but the dead know 
not anything." "Their love, and their hatred, and their 
envy, is now perished ; neither have they any more a portion 
forever in anything that is done under the sun." " There 
is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the 
grave, whither thou goest." 2 

When, in answer to his prayer, Hezekiah's life was pro- 
longed fifteen years, the grateful king rendered to God a 
tribute of praise for his great mercy. In this song he tells 
the reason why he thus rejoices: "The grave cannot praise 
thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into 
the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, 
he shall praise thee, as I do this day." 3 Popular theology 
represents the righteous dead as in Heaven, entered into 
bliss, and praising God with an immortal tongue; but 
Hezekiah could see no such glorious prospect in death. 
With his words agrees the testimony of the psalmist: "In 
death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who 
shall give thee thanks?" "The dead praise not the Lord, 
neither any that go down into silence." 4 

Peter, on the day of Pentecost, declared that the patriarch 
David " is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with 
us unto this day." " For David is not ascended into the 
heavens." 5 The fact that David remains in the grave until 
the resurrection, proves that the righteous do not go to 
Heaven at death. It is only through the resurrection, and 

iPs. 146:4. 2 Eccl. 9:5, 6, 10. ^ Isa. 38 : 18, 19. 

* Ps. 6 : 5; 115 : 17. 5 Acts 2 : 29, 34. 



THE Fill ST GREA T DECEPTION. 547 



by virtue of the fact that Christ lias risen, that David can at 
last sit at the right hand of God. 

And said Paul: "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ 
raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye 
are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep 
in Christ are perished." 1 If for four thousand years the 
righteous had gone directly to Heaven at death, how could 
Paul have said that if there is no resurrection, " they which 
are fallen asleep in Christ are perished"? No resurrection 
would be necessary. 

The martyr Tyndale, defending the doctrine that the dead 
sleep, declared to his papist opponent : " Ye, in putting 
them [departed souls] in Heaven, hell, and purgatory, de- 
stroy the argument wherewith Christ and Paul prove the 
resurrection." "If the sonls be in Heaven, tell me why 
they be not in as good case as the angels be ? And then 
what cause is there of the resurrection ? " 

It is an undeniable fact that the hope of immortal bles- 
sedness at death has led to widespread neglect of the Bible 
doctrine of the resurrection. This tendency was remarked 
by Dr. Adam Clarke, who, early in the present century, 
said : " The doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been 
thought of much more consequence among the primitive 
Christians than it is now! How is this ? The apostles were 
continually insisting on it, and exciting the followers of God 
to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it. And 
their successors in the present day seldom mention it! So 
apostles preached, and so primitive Christians believed; so 
we preach, and so our hearers believe. There is not a doc- 
trine in the gospel on which more stress is laid; and there 
is not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which 
is treated with more neglect! " 

This has continued until the glorious truth of the res- 
urrection has been almost wholly obscured, and lost sight 
of by the Christian world. Thus a leading religious writer, 

x l Cor. 15:16-18. 



548 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



commenting on the words of Panl in 1 Thess. 4 : 13-18, 
says: "For all practical purposes of comfort the doctrine of 
the blessed immortality of the righteous takes the place for 
us of any doubtful doctrine of the Lord's second coming. 
At our death the Lord comes for us. That is what we are 
to wait and watch for. The dead are already passed into 
glory. They do not wait for the trump for their judgment 
and blessedness." 

But when about to leave his disciples, Jesus did not tell 
them that they would soon come to him. " I go to prepare a 
place for you/' he said. " And if I go and prepare a place for 
you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself." 1 And 
Paul tells us, further, that " the Lord himself shall descend 
from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall 
rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be 
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the 
Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 
And he adds, "Comfort one another with these words." 2 
How wide the contrast between these words of comfort and 
those of the Universalist minister previously quoted. The 
latter consoled the bereaved friends with the assurance, that, 
however sinful the dead might have been, when he breathed 
out his life here he was to be received among the angels. 
Paul points his brethren to the future coming of the Lord, 
when the fetters of the tomb shall be broken, and the " dead 
in Christ " shall be raised to eternal life. 

Before any can enter the mansions of the blest, their cases 
must be investigated, and their characters and their deeds 
must pass in review before God. All are to be judged ac- 
cording to the things written in the books, and to be re- 
warded as their works have been. This Judgment does 
not take place at death. Mark the words of Paul : " He 
hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world 
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; 

1 John 14 : 2, 3, 2 1 Thess. 4 : 16-18. 



THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 549 

whereof lie hath given assurance unto all men, in that he 
hath raised him from the dead." l Here the apostle plainly 
stated that a specified time, then future, had been fixed 
upon for the Judgment of the world. 

Jude refers to the same period: "The angels which kept 
not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath 
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the 
Judgment of the great day." And again he quotes the 
words of Enoch: "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thou- 
sands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all." 2 John 
declares that he " saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
God; and the books were opened;" "and the dead were 
judged out of those things which were written in the books," 3 

But if the dead are already enjo}nng the bliss of Heaven 
or writhing in the flames of hell, what need of a future 
Judgment? The teachings of God's Word on these im- 
portant points are neither obscure nor contradictory; they 
may be understood by common minds. But what candid 
mind can see either wisdom or justice in the current theory? 
Will the righteous, after the investigation of their cases at 
the Judgment, receive the commendation, " AVell done, good 
and faithful servant," " enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," 4 
when they have been dwelling in his presence, perhaps for 
long ages? Are the wicked summoned from the place of 
torment to receive the sentence from the Judge of all the 
earth, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire"? 4 
Oh, solemn mockery! shameful impeachment of the wisdom 
and justice of God ! 

The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of 
those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, 
incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin 
Luther classed it with " the numberless prodigies of the 
Romish dunghill of decretals." Commenting on the words 
of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not any- 
thing, the reformer says: " Another proof that the dead are 

1 Acts 17 : 31. 2 Jude 6, 14, 15. 3 Rev. 20 : 12. * Matt. 25 : 21, 41. 



550 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

insensible. Solomon thinks therefore, that the dead are 
altogether asleep, and think of nothing. They lie, not 
reckoning days or years, bnt when awakened, will seem to 
themselves to have slept scarcely a moment." 

Nowhere in the Sacred Scriptures is found the statement 
that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their 
punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have 
left no such assurance. Christ and his apostles have given 
no hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do 
not go immediately to Heaven. They are represented as 
sleeping until the resurrection. 1 In the very day when the 
silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken, 2 man's 
thoughts perish. They that go down to the grave are in 
silence. They know no more of anything that is clone under 
the sun. 3 Blessed rest for the weary righteous! Time, be 
it long or short, is but a moment to them. They sleep, they 
are awakened by the trump of God to a glorious immor- 
tality. "For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be 
raised incorruptible. . . . So when this corruptible shall 
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put 
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying 
that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 4 As 
they are called forth from their deep slumber, they begin 
to think just where they ceased. The last sensation was the 
pang of death, the last thought that they were falling be- 
neath the power of the grave. When they arise from the 
tomb, their first glad thought will be echoed in the tri- 
umphal shout, "0 death, where is thy sting? grave, 
where is thy victory?" * 

1 1 Thess. 4:14; Job 14 : 10-12. 2 Eccl. 12 : 6. s j b 14 : 21. 
* 1 Cor. 15 : 52-55. 



CHAPTER XXXIV, 



SPIRITUALISM. 

The ministration of holy angels, as presented in the 
Scriptures, is a truth most comforting and precious to every 
follower of Christ. But the Bible teaching upon this point 
has been obscured and perverted by the errors of popular 
theology. The doctrine of natural immortality, first bor- 
rowed from the pagan philosophy, and in the darkness of 
the great apostasy incorporated into the Christian faith, 
has supplanted the truth, so plainly taught in Scripture, 
that " the dead know not anything." Multitudes have come 
to believe that it is the spirits of the dead who are the 
"ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who 
shall be heirs of salvation." And this notwithstanding the 
testimony of Scripture to the existence of heavenly angels, 
and their connection w T ith the history of man, before the 
death of a human being. 

The doctrine of man's consciousness in death, especially 
the belief that the spirits of the dead return to minister to 
the living, has prepared the way for modern Spiritualism. 
If the dead are admitted to the presence of God and holy 
angels, and privileged with knowledge far exceeding what 
they before possessed, why should they not return to the 
earth to enlighten and instruct the living ? If, as taught 
by popular theologians, the spirits of the dead are hovering 
about their friends on earth, why should they not be per- 
mitted to communicate with them, to warn them against 
evil, or to comfort them in sorrow ? How can those who 
believe in man's consciousness in death reject what comes 
to them as divine light communicated by glorified spirits ? 

39 ( 551 > 



552 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Here is a channel regarded as sacred, through which Satan 
works for the accomplishment of his purposes. The fallen 
angels who do his bidding appear as messengers from the 
spirit world. While professing to bring the living into com- 
munication with the dead, the prince of evil exercises his 
bewitching influence upon their minds. 

He has power to bring before men the appearance of their 
departed friends. The counterfeit is perfect; the familiar 
look, the words, the tone, are reproduced with marvelous 
distinctness. Many are comforted with the assurance that 
their loved ones are enjoying the bliss of Heaven; and 
without suspicion of danger, they give ear to " seducing 
spirits, and doctrines of devils." 

When they have been led to believe that the dead actually 
return to communicate with them, Satan causes those to 
appear who went into the grave unprepared. They claim 
to be happy in Heaven, and even to occupy exalted posi- 
tions there; and thus the error is widely taught, that no 
difference is made between the righteous and the wicked. 
The pretended visitants from the world of spirits sometimes 
utter cautions and warnings which prove to be correct. 
Then, as confidence is gained, they present doctrines that 
directly undermine faith in the Scriptures. With an ap- 
pearance of deep interest in the well-being of their friends 
on earth, they insinuate the most dangerous errors. The 
fact that they state some truths, and are able at times to 
foretell future events, gives to their statements an appear- 
ance of reliability; and their false teachings are accepted 
by the multitudes as readily, and believed as implicitly, as 
if they were the most sacred truths of the Bible. The law 
of God is set aside, the Spirit of grace despised, the blood 
of the covenant counted an unholy thing. The spirits deny 
the divinity of Christ, and place, even the Creator on a level 
with themselves. Thus under a new disguise the great 
rebel still carries forward his warfare against God, begun in 
Heaven, and for nearly six thousand years continued upon 
the earth. 



SPIRITUALISM. 553 



Many endeavor to account for spiritual manifestations by 
attributing them wholly to fraud and sleight of hand on 
the part of the medium. But while it is true that the re- 
sults of trickery have often been palmed off as genuine 
manifestations, there have been, also, marked exhibitions 
of supernatural power. The mysterious rapping with which 
modern Spiritualism began was not the result of human 
trickery or cunning, but was the direct work of evil angels, 
who thus introduced one of the most successful of soul- 
destroying delusions. Many will be ensnared through the 
belief that Spiritualism is a merely human imposture; 
when brought face to face with manifestations which they 
cannot but regard as supernatural, they will be deceived, 
and will be led to accept them as the great power of God. 

These persons overlook the testimony of the Scriptures 
concerning the wonders wrought by Satan and his agents. 
It was by Satanic aid that Pharaoh's magicians were en- 
abled to counterfeit the work of God. Paul testifies that 
before the second advent of Christ there will be similar 
manifestations of Sata.nic power. The coming of the Lord 
is to be preceded by " the working of Satan with all power 
and signs and lying wonders, and w T ith all deceivableness 
of unrighteousness." 1 And the apostle John, describing 
the miracle-working power that will be manifested in the 
last days, declares: "He doeth great wonders, so that he 
maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the 
sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth 
by the means of those miracles which he had power to do." 2 
No mere impostures are here foretold. Men are deceived 
by the miracles which Satan's agents have power to do, not 
which they pretend to do. 

The prince of darkness, who has so long bent the powers 
of his master-mind to the work of deception, skillfully adapts 
his temptations to men of all classes and conditions. To per- 
sons of culture and refinement he presents Spiritualism in 

l 2 Thess. 2 : 9, 10. 2 Rev. 13 : 13, 14. 



554 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

its more refined and intellectual aspects, and thus succeeds 
in drawing many into his snare. The wisdom which Spir- 
itualism imparts is that described by the apostle James, 
which " descend eth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, 
devilish." l This, however, the great deceiver conceals, when 
concealment will best suit his purpose. He who could ap- 
pear clothed with the brightness of the heavenly seraphs 
before Christ in the wilderness of temptation, comes to men 
in the most attractive mannei, as an angel of light. He 
appeals to the reason by the presentation of elevating themes, 
he delights the fancy with enrapturing scenes, and he en- 
lists the affections by his eloquent portrayals of love and 
charity. He excites the imagination to lofty flights, leading 
men to take so great pride in their own wisdom that in 
their hearts they despise the Eternal One. That mighty 
being who could take the world's Redeemer to an exceed- 
ingly high mountain, and bring before him all the king- 
doms of the earth and the glory of them, will present his 
temptations to men in a manner to pervert the senses of 
all who are not shielded by divine power. 

Satan beguiles men now as he beguiled Eve in Eden, by 
flattery, by kindling a desire to obtain forbidden knowledge, 
by exciting ambition for self-exaltation. It was cherishing 
these evils that caused his fall, and through them he aims 
to compass the ruin of men. " Ye shall be as gods," he 
declares, " knowing good and evil." 2 Spiritualism teaches 
" that man is the creature of progression ; that it is his des- 
tiny from his birth to progress, even to eternity, toward the 
Godhead." And again: "Each mind will judge itself and 
not another." "The judgment will be right, because it is 
the judgment of self. . . . The throne is within you." 
Said a Spiritualistic teacher, as the "spiritual consciousness" 
awoke within him, "My fellow-men, all were unfallen demi- 
gods." And another declares, " Any just and perfect being 
is Christ." 

!Jas. 3: 15. 2 Gen. 3:5. 



SPIRITUALISM. 555 



Thus, in place of the righteousness and perfection of the 
infinite God, the true object of adoration; in place of the 
perfect righteousness of his law, the true standard of human 
attainment, Satan has substituted the sinful, erring nature 
of man himself, as the only object of adoration, the only 
rule of judgment, or standard of character. This is progress, 
not upward, but downward. 

It is a law both of the intellectual and the spiritual nature, 
that by beholding, we become changed. The mind grad- 
ually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed 
to dwell. It becomes assimilated to that which it is accus- 
tomed to love and reverence. Man will never rise higher 
than his standard of purity or goodness or truth. If self 
is his loftiest ideal, he will never attain to anything more 
exalted. Rather, he will constantly sink lower and lower. 
The grace of God alone has power to exalt man. Left to 
himself, his course must inevitably be downward. 

To the self-indulgent, the pleasure-loving, the sensual, 
Spiritualism presents itself under a less subtle disguise than 
to the more refined and intellectual; in its grosser forms 
they find that which is in harmony with their inclinations. 
Satan studies every indication of the frailty of human nat- 
ure, he marks the sins which each individual is inclined to 
commit, and then he takes care that opportunities shall not 
be wanting to gratify the tendency to evil. He tempts men 
to excess in that which is in itself lawful, causing them, 
through intemperance, to weaken physical, mental, and 
moral power. He has destroyed and is destroying thousands 
through the indulgence of the passions, thus brutalizing the 
entire nature of man. And to complete his work, he de- 
clares, through the spirits, that "true knowledge places man 
above all law;" that "whatsoever is, is right;" that "God 
doth not condemn;" and that "all sins which are committed 
are innocent." When the people are thus led to believe that 
desire is the highest law, that liberty is license, and that man 
is accountable only to himself, who can wonder that corrup- 



556 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

tioii and depravity teem on every hand? Multitudes ea- 
gerly accept teachings that leave them at liberty to obey the 
promptings of the carnal heart. The reins of self-control are 
laid upon the neck of lust, the powers of mind and soul are 
made subject to the animal propensities, and Satan exult- 
ingly sweeps into his net thousands who profess to be fol- 
lowers of Christ. 

But none need be deceived by the lying claims of Spir- 
itualism. God has given the world sufficient light to enable 
them to discover the snare. As already shown, the theory 
which forms the very foundation of Spiritualism is at war 
with the plainest statements of Scripture. The Bible de- 
clares that the dead know not anything, that their thoughts 
have perished; they have no part in anything that is done 
under the sun; they know nothing of the joys or sorrows 
of those who were dearest to them on earth. 

Furthermore, God has expressly forbidden all pretended 
communication with departed spirits. In the days of the 
Hebrews there was a class of people who claimed, as do the 
Spiritualists of to-day, to hold communication with the dead. 
But the "familiar spirits," as these visitants from other 
worlds were called, are declared by the Bible to be the 
"spirits of devils." 1 The work of dealing with familiar 
spirits was pronounced an abomination to the Lord, and 
was solemnly forbidden under penalty of death. 2 The very 
name of witchcraft is now held in contempt. The claim 
that men can hold intercourse with evil spirits is regarded 
as a fable of the Dark Ages. But Spiritualism, which num- 
bers its converts by hundreds of thousands, yea, by millions, 
which has made its way into scientific circles, which has 
invaded churches, and has found favor in legislative bodies, 
and even in the courts of kings — this mammoth deception 
is but a revival, in a new disguise, of the witchcraft con- 
demned and prohibited of old. 

Compare Num. ?5 : 1-3; Ps. 106 : 28; 1 Cor, 10: 20; Rev. 16 : 14, 
^Lev. 19:31; 20:27. 



SPIRITUALISM. 557 

If there were no other evidence of the real character of 

Spiritualism, it should be enough for the Christian that the 
spirits make no difference between righteousness and sin, 
between the noblest and purest of the apostles of Christ and 
the most corrupt of the servants of Satan. By representing 
the basest of men as in Heaven, and highly exalted there, 
Satan says to the world: "No matter how wicked you are' 
no matter whether you believe or disbelieve God and tht 
Bible. Live as you please; Heaven is your home." The 
Spiritualist teachers virtually declare, " Every one that doeth 
evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he clelighteth in 
them; or, Where is the God of judgment?'' 1 Saith the 
Word of God, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and 
good evil ; that pnt darkness for light, and light for dark- 
ness." 2 

The apostles, as personated by these lying spirits, are 
made to contradict what they wrote at the dictation of the 
Holy Spirit when on earth. They deny the divine origin 
Df the Bible, and thus tear away the foundation of the Chris- 
tian's hope, and put out the light that reveals the way to 
Heaven. Satan is making the world believe that the Bible 
is a mere fiction, or at least a book suited to the infancy of 
the race, but now to be lightly regarded, or cast aside as 
obsolete. And to take the place of the Word of God he 
holds out spiritual manifestations. Here is a channel wholly 
under his control; by this means he can make the world 
believe what he will. The Book that is to judge him 
and his followers he puts in the shade, just where he 
wants it; the Saviour of the world he makes to be no more 
than a common man. And as the Roman guard that 
watched the tomb of Jesus spread the lying report which 
the priests and elders put into their mouths to disprove his 
resurrection, so do the believers in spiritual manifestations 
try to make it appear that there is nothing miraculous in 
the circumstances of our Saviour's life. After thus seeking 

MaL2:l7. 2 Isa. 5:20. 



558 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



to put Jesus in the background, they call attention to their 
own miracles, declaring that these far exceed the works of 
Christ. 

It is true that Spiritualism is now changing its form, and, 
veiling some of its more objectionable features, is assuming 
a Christian guise. But its utterances from the platform and 
the press have been before the public for nearly forty years, 
and in these its real character stands revealed. These teach- 
ings cannot be denied or hidden. 

Even in its present form, so far from being more worthy 
of toleration than formerly, it is really a more dangerous, 
because a more subtle deception. While it formerly de- 
nounced Christ and the Bible, it now professes to accept 
both. But the Bible is interpreted in a manner that is 
pleasing to the unrenewed heart, while its solemn and vital 
truths are made of no effect. Love is dwelt upon as the 
chief attribute of God, but it is degraded to a weak senti- 
mentalism making little distinction between good and evil. 
God's justice, his denunciations of sin, the requirements of 
his holy law, are all kept out of sight. The people are 
taught to regard the decalogue as a dead letter. Pleasing, 
bewitching fables captivate the senses, and -lead men to re- 
ject the Bible as the foundation of their faith. Christ is as 
verily denied as before; but Satan has so blinded the eyes 
of the people that the deception is not discerned. 

There are few who have any just conception of the de- 
ceptive power of Spiritualism and the danger of coming 
under its influence. Many tamper with it, merely to gratify 
their curiosity. They have no real faith in it, and would 
be filled with horror at the thought of yielding themselves 
to the spirits' control. But they venture upon the forbidden 
ground, and the mighty destroyer exercises his power upon 
them against their will. Let them once be induced to sub- 
mit their minds to his direction, and he holds them captive. 
It is impossible, in their own strength, to break away from 
the bewitching, alluring spell. Nothing but the power of 



SPIRITUALISM. 559 



God, granted in answer to the earnest prayer of faith, can 
deliver these ensnared souls. 

All who indulge sinful traits of character, or willfully 
cherish a known sin, are inviting the temptations of Satan. 
They separate themselves from God and from the watchcare 
of his angels; as the evil one presents his deceptions, they 
are without defense, and fall an easy prey. Those who 
thus place themselves in his power, little realize where their 
course w T ill end. Having achieved their overthrow, the 
tempter will employ them as his agents to lure others to 
ruin. 

Says the prophet Isaiah: " When they shall say unto you, 
Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards 
that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto 
their God ? for the living to the dead ? To the law and to 
the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, 
it is because there is no light in them." x If men had been 
willing to receive the truth so plainly stated in the Script- 
ures, concerning the nature of man and the state of the 
dead, they w T ould see in the claims and manifestations of 
Spiritualism the working of Satan with powder and signs 
and lying wonders. But rather than yield the liberty so 
agreeable to the carnal heart, and renounce the sins wmich 
they love, multitudes close their eyes to the light, and walk 
straight on, regardless of warnings, while Satan weaves his 
snares about them, and they become his prey. " Because 
they received not the love of the truth, that they might be 
saved," therefore " God shall send them strong delusion, that 
they should believe a lie." 2 

Those w T ho oppose the teachings of Spiritualism are assail- 
ing, not men alone, but Satan and his angels. They have 
entered upon a contest against principalities and powers 
and wicked spirits in high places. Satan vsull not yield one 
inch of ground except as he is driven back by the power 
of heavenly messengers The people of God should be able 

1 Isa. 8 : 19, 20. 2 2 Thess. 2 : 10, 11. 



560 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

to meet him, as did our Saviour, with the words, " It is 
written." Satan can quote Scripture now as in the days of 
Christ, and he will pervert its teachings to sustain his de- 
lusions. Those who would stand in this time of peril must 
understand for themselves the testimony of the Scriptures. 

Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils person- 
ating beloved relatives or friends, and declaring the most 
dangerous heresies. These visitants will appeal to our ten- 
derest sympathies, and will work miracles to sustain their 
pretensions. We must be prepared to withstand them with 
the Bible truth that the dead know not anything, and that 
they who thus appear are the spirits of devils. 

Just before us is the "hour of temptation, which shall 
come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the 
earth." l All whose faith is not firmly established upon the 
Word of God will be deceived and overcome. Satan " works 
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness " to gain control 
of the children of men; and his deceptions will continually 
increase. But he can gain his object only as men volun- 
tarily yield to his temptations. Those who are earnestly 
seeking a knowledge of the truth, and are striving to purify 
their souls through obedience, thus doing what they can to 
prepare for the conflict, will find, in the God of truth, a sure 
defense. " Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, 
I also will keep thee," l is the Saviour's promise. He would 
sooner send every angel out of Heaven to protect his people, 
than leave one soul that trusts in him to be overcome by 
Satan. 

The prophet Isaiah brings to view the fearful deception 
which will come upon the wicked, causing them to count 
themselves secure from the judgments of God: " We have 
made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agree- 
ment; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, 
it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, 
and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." 2 In the class 

1 Rev. 3 : 10. 2 Isa. 28 : 15. 



SriRITlfALISM. 561 



here described are included those who in their stubborn 
impenitence comfort themselves with the assuranee that 
tli ere is to be no punishment for the sinner; that all man- 
kind, it matters not how corrupt, are to be exalted to Heaven, 
to become as the angels of God. But still more emphat- 
ically are those making a covenant with death and an agree- 
ment with hell, who renounce the truths which Heaven has 
provided as a defense for the righteous in the day of trouble, 
and accept the refuge of lies offered by Satan in its stead, — 
the delusive pretensions of Spiritualism. 

Marvelous beyond expression is the blindness of the people 
of this generation. Thousands reject the Word of God as 
unworthy of belief, and with eager confidence receive the 
deceptions of Satan. Skeptics and scoffers denounce the 
bigotry of those who contend for the faith of prophets and 
apostles, and they divert themselves by holding up to ridi- 
cule the solemn declarations of the Scriptures concerning 
Christ and the plan of salvation, and the retribution to be 
visited upon the rejecters of the truth. They affect great 
pity for minds so narrow, weak, and superstitious as to ac- 
knowledge the claims of God, and obey the requirements 
of his law. They manifest as much assurance as if, indeed, 
they had made a covenant with death and an agreement 
with hell, — as if they had erected an impassable, impene- 
trable barrier between themselves and the vengeance of God. 
Nothing can arouse their fears. So fully have they yielded 
to the tempter, so closely are they united with him, and so 
thoroughly imbued with his spirit, that they have no power 
and no inclination to break away from his snare. 

Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to de- 
ceive the world. The foundation of his work was laid by 
the assurance given to Eve in Eden, "Ye shall not surely 
die." " In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be 
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." x 
Little by little he has prepared the way for his master-piece 

1 Gen. 3 : 4, 5. 



562 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, 



of deception in the development of Spiritualism. He has 
not yet reached the full accomplishment of his designs; but 
it will he reached in the last remnant of time. Says the 
prophet: "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs; . . . 
they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go 
forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to 
gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." x 
Except those who are kept by the power of God, through 
faith in his Word, the whole world will be swept into the 
ranks of this delusion. The people are fast being lulled to 
a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of 
the wTath of God. 

Saith the Lord God : " Judgment also will I lay to the 
line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall 
sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow 
the hiding-place. And your covenant with death shall be 
disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand ; 
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye 
shall be trodden down by it." 2 

1 Rev. 16 : 13, 14. 2 Isa. 23 : 17, 18. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



CHARACTER AND AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 

Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater 
favor than in former years. In those countries where Cathol- 
icism is not in the ascendency, and the papists are taking a 
conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an in- 
creasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate 
the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy; the opin- 
ion is gaining ground, that, after all, we do not differ so 
widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a 
little concession on our part will bring us into a better un- 
derstanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants 
placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which 
has been so dearly purchased. They taught their children 
to abhor popery, and held that to seek harmony with Rome 
would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are 
the sentiments now expressed. 

The defenders of popery declare that the church has been 
maligned; and the Protestant world are inclined to accept 
the statement. Many urge that it is unjust to judge the 
church of to-day by the abominations and absurdities that 
marked her reign during the centuries of ignorance and 
darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of 
the barbarism of the times, and plead that the influence of 
modern civilization has changed her sentiments. 

Have these persons forgotten the claim of infallibility put 
forth for eight hundred years by this haughty power? So 
far from being relinquished, this claim has been affirmed in 
the nineteenth century with greater positiveness than ever 
before. As Rome asserts that she " never erred, and never 

(563) 



564 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

can err" how can she renounce the principles which gov- 
erned her course in past ages ? 

The papal church will never relinquish her claim to infal- 
libility. All that she has done in her persecution of those 
who reject her dogmas, she holds to be right; and would she 
not repeat the same acts, should the opportunity be pre- 
sented ? Let the restraints now imposed by secular govern- 
ments be removed, and Rome be re-instated in her former 
power, and there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny 
and persecution. 

A recent writer 1 speaks thus of the attitude of the papal 
hierarchy as regards freedom of conscience, and of the perils 
which especially threaten the United States from the success 
of her policy : — 

" There are many who are disposed to attribute any fear 
of Roman Catholicism in the United States to bigotry or 
childishness. Such see nothing in the character and atti- 
tude of Romanism that is hostile to our free institutions, or 
find nothing portentous in its growth. Let us, then, first 
compare some of the fundamental principles of our govern- 
ment with those of the Catholic Church. 

" The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty 
of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental. Pope 
Pius IX., in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: 
' The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of 
liberty of conscience, are a most pestilential error — a pest, of 
all others, most to be dreaded in a State.' The same pope, in 
his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized 
' those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious 
worship,' also ' all such as maintain that the church may not 
employ force.' 

" The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not 
imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is help- 
less. Says Bishop O'Connor : ' Religious liberty is merely en- 
dured until the opposite can be carried into effect without 

1 Josiah Strong, D. D., in "Our Country," pp. 46-48. 



AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 565 

peril to the Catholic world." " " The archbishop of St. Louis 
once said: ' Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian 
countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the 
people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an 
essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as 
other crimes.' " 

" Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic 
Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which 
occur the following words: ' Heretics, schismatics, and rebels 
to our said lord the pope, or his aforesaid successors, I will 
to my utmost persecute and oppose.' " 

It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman 
Catholic communion. Thousands in that church are serving 
God according to the best light they have. They are not 
allowed access to his Word, and therefore they do not dis- 
cern the truth. They have never seen the contrast between 
a living heart-service and a round of mere forms and cere- 
monies. God looks with pitying tenderness upon these 
souls, educated as they are in a faith that is delusive and 
unsatisfying. He will cause rays of light to penetrate the 
dense darkness that surrounds them. He will reveal to them 
the truth, as it is in Jesus, and many will yet take their 
position with his people. 

But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with 
the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her 
history. The Protestant churched are in great darkness, or 
they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman: 
Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. 
She is employing every device to extend her influence and 
increase her power in preparation for a fierce and deter- 
mined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish 
persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done. 
Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side. 1 See the 
increasing number of her churches and chapels in Protest- 
ant countries. Look at the popularity of her colleges and 

1 See Appendix, Xote 10. 
40 



566 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

seminaries in America, so widely patronized by Protestants. 
Look at the growth of ritualism in England, and the fre- 
quent defections to the ranks of the Catholics. These things 
should awaken the anxiety of all who prize the pure prin- 
ciples of the gospel. 

Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery; 
they have made compromises and concessions which papists 
themselves are surprised to see, and fail to understand. Men 
are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism, and 
the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy. The 
people need to be aroused to resist the advances of this most 
dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty. 

Many Protestants suppose that the Catholic religion is un- 
attractive, and that its worship is a dull, meaningless round of 
ceremony. Here they mistake. While Romanism is based 
upon deception, it is not a coarse and clumsy imposture. The 
religious service of the Romish Church is a most impressive 
ceremonial. Its gorgeous display and solemn rites fascinate 
the senses of the people, and silence the voice of reason and 
of conscience. The eye is charmed. Magnificent churches, 
imposing processions, golden altars, jeweled shrines, choice 
paintings, and exquisite sculpture appeal to the love of 
beauty. The ear also is captivated. The music is unsur- 
passed. The rich notes of the deep-toned organ, blending 
with the melody of many voices as it swells through the 
lofty domes and pillared aisles of her grand cathedrals, can- 
not fail to impress the mind with awe and reverence. 

This outward splendor, pomp, and ceremony, that only 
mocks the longings of the sin-sick soul, is an evidence of 
inward corruption. The religion of Christ needs not such 
attractions to recommend it. In the light shining from the 
cross, true Christianity appears so pure and lovely that no 
external decorations can enhance its true worth. It is the 
beauty of holiness, a meek and quiet spirit, which is of value 
with God. 

Brilliancy of style is not necessarily an index of pure, ele- 



AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 567 

vated thought. High conceptions of art, delicate refinement 
of taste, often exist in minds that are earthly and sensual. 
They are often employed by Satan to lead men to forget the 
necessities of the soul, to lose sight of the future, immortal 
life, to turn away from their infinite Helper, and to live for 
this world alone. 

A religion of externals is attractive to the unrenewed 
heart. The pomp and ceremony of the Catholic worship 
have a seductive, bewitching power, by which many are de- 
ceived; and they come to look upon the Roman Church as 
the very gate of Heaven. None but those who have planted 
their feet firmly upon the foundation of truth, and whose 
hearts are renewed by the Spirit of God, are proof against 
her influence. Thousands who have not an experimental 
knowledge of Christ will be led to accept the forms of godli- 
ness without the power. Such a religion is just what the 
multitudes desire. 

The church's claim to the right to pardon, causes the 
Romanist to feel at liberty to sin; and the ordinance of 
confession, without which her pardon is not granted, tends 
also to give license to evil. He who kneels before fallen 
man, and opens in confession the secret thoughts and imag- 
inations of his heart, is debasing his manhood, and degrad- 
ing every noble instinct of his soul. In unfolding the sins of 
his life to a priest, — an erring, sinful mortal, and too often 
corrupted with wine and licentiousness, — his standard of 
character is lowered, and he is defiled in consequence. His 
thought of God is degraded to the likeness of fallen human- 
ity ; for the priest stands as a representative of God. This 
degrading confession of man to man is the secret spring 
from which has flowed much of the evil that is defiling the 
world, and fitting it for the final destruction. Yet to him 
who loves self-indulgence, it is more pleasing to confess to a 
fellow-mortal than to open the soul to God. It is more pal- 
atable to human nature to do penance than to renounce sin ; 
it is easier to mortify the flesh by sackcloth and nettles and 



568 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



galling chains than to crucify fleshly lusts. Heavy is the 
yoke which the carnal heart is willing to bear rather than 
bow to the yoke of Christ. 

There is a striking similarity between the Church of Rome 
and the Jewish Church at the time of Christ's first advent. 
While the Jews secretly trampled upon every principle of 
the law of God, they were outwardly rigorous in the observ- 
ance of its precepts, loading it down with exactions and 
traditions that made obedience painful and burdensome. 
As the Jews professed to revere the law, so do Romanists 
claim to reverence the cross. They exalt the symbol of 
Christ's sufferings, while in their lives they deny him whom 
it represents. 

Papists place crosses upon their churches, upon their altars, 
and upon their garments. Everywhere is seen the insignia 
of the cross. Everywhere it is outwardly honored and ex- 
alted. But the teachings of Christ are buried beneath a 
mass of senseless traditions, false interpretations, and rigorous 
exactions. The Saviour's words concerning the bigoted 
Jews, apply with still greater force to the Romish leaders: 
" They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and 
lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not 
move them with one of their fingers." 1 Conscientious souls 
are kept in constant terror, fearing the wrath of an offended 
God, while the dignitaries of the church are living in lux- 
ury and sensual pleasure. 

The worship of images and relics, the invocation of saints, 
and the exaltation of the pope, are devices of Satan to at- 
tract the minds of the people from God and from his Son. 
To accomplish their ruin, he endeavors to turn their atten- 
tion from Him through whom alone they can find salvation. 
He will direct them to any object that can be substituted for 
the One who has said, " Come unto me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." 2 

It is Satan's constant effort to misrepresent the character 

1 Matt. 23:4. 2 Matt. 11:28. 



AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 569 

of God, the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the 
moat controversy. His sophistry lessens the obligation of 
the divine law, and gives men license to sin. At the same 
time he causes them to cherish false conceptions of God, so 
that they regard him with fear and hate, rather than with 
love. The cruelty inherent in his own character is attrib- 
uted to the Creator; it is embodied in systems of religion, 
and expressed in modes of worship. Thus the minds of men 
are blinded, and Satan secures them as his agents to war 
against Gocl. By perverted conceptions of the divine attri- 
butes, heathen nations were led to believe human sacrifices 
necessary to secure the favor of Deity; and horrible cruelties 
have been perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry. 
The Romish Church, uniting the forms of paganism and 
Christianity, and, like paganism, misrepresenting the char- 
acter of God, has resorted to practices no less cruel and re- 
volting. In the days of Rome's supremacy, there w T ere 
instruments of torture to compel assent to her doctrines. 
There was the stake for those who would not concede to her 
claims. There were massacres on a scale that will never be 
known until revealed in the Judgment. Dignitaries of the 
church studied, under Satan their master, to invent means 
to cause the greatest possible torture, and not end the life of 
their victim. The infernal process was repeated to the ut- 
most limit of human endurance, until nature gave up the 
struggle, and the sufferer hailed death as a sweet release. 

Such was the fate of Rome's opponents. For her adher- 
ents she had the discipline of the scourge, of famishing 
hunger, of bodily austerities in every conceivable, heart- 
sickening form. To secure the favor of Heaven, penitents 
violated the laws of God by violating the laws of nature. 
They were taught to sunder every tie which he has formed 
to bless and gladden man's earthly sojourn. The church- 
yard contains millions of victims, who spent their lives in 
vain endeavors to subdue their natural affections, to repress, 
as offensive to God, every thought and feeling of sympathy 
with their fellow-creatures. 



570 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



If we desire to understand the determined cruelty of Satan, 
manifested for hundreds of years, not among those who 
never heard of God, but in the very heart and throughout 
the extent of Christendom, we have only to look at the 
history of Romanism. Through this mammoth system of 
deception the prince of evil achieves his purpose of bringing 
dishonor to God and wretchedness to man. And as we see 
how he succeeds in disguising himself, and accomplishing 
his work through the leaders of the church, we may better 
understand why he has so great antipathy to the Bible. If 
that book is read, the mercy and love of God will be re- 
vealed; it will be seen that he lays upon men none of these 
heavy burdens. All that he asks is a broken and contrite 
heart, a humble, obedient spirit. 

Christ gives no example in his life for men and women to 
shut themselves in monasteries in order to become fitted for 
Heaven. He has never taught that love and sympathy must 
be repressed. The Saviour's heart overflowed with love. The 
nearer man approaches to moral perfection, the keener are his 
sensibilities, the more acute is his perception of sin, and the 
deeper his sympathy for the afflicted. The pope claims to 
be the vicar of Christ ; but how does his character bear com- 
parison with that of our Saviour ? Was Christ ever known to 
consign men to the prison or the rack because they did not 
pay him homage as the King of Heaven ? Was his voice 
heard condemning to death those who did not accept him ? 
When he was slighted by the people of a Samaritan village, 
the apostle John was filled with indignation, and inquired, 
" Lord, w T ilt thou that we command fire to come down from 
heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did ? " Jesus looked 
with pity upon his disciple, and rebuked his harsh spirit, 
saying, " The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, 
but to save them." l How different from the spirit mani- 
fested by Christ is that of his professed vicar. 

The Romish Church now presents a fair front to the world, 

1 Luke 9 : 54, 56. 



AIMS OF THE PA PACT. 571 

covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She 
has clothed herself in Christ-like garments; but she is un- 
changed. Every principle of popery that existed in past 
ages exists to-day. The doctrines devised in the darkest 
ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The 
popery that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the 
same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, 
when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to ex- 
pose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arro- 
gant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and 
claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel 
and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty, 
and slew the saints of the Most High. 

Popery is just what prophecy declared that she would be, 
the apostasy of the latter times. 1 It is a part of her policy 
to assume the character which will best accomplish her pur- 
pose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon, 
she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. " We are 
not bound to keep faith and promises to heretics," she de- 
clares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years 
is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged 
as a part of the church of Christ ? 

It is not without reason that the claim has been put forth 
in Protestant countries, that Catholicism differs less widely 
from Protestantism than in former times. There has been a 
change ; but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism 
indeed resembles much of the Protestantism that now exists, 
because Protestantism has so greatly degenerated since the 
days of the reformers. 

As the Protestant churches have been seeking the favor of 
the world, false charity has blinded their eyes. They do not 
see but that it is right to believe good of all evil ; and as the 
inevitable result, they will finally believe evil of all good. 
Instead of standing in defense of the faith once delivered to 
the saints, they are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for 

1 2 Thess. 2 : 3, 4. 



572 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

their uncharitable opinion of her, begging pardon for their 
bigotry. 

A large class, even of those who look upon Romanism 
with no favor, apprehend little danger from her power and 
influence. Many urge that the intellectual and moral dark- 
ness prevailing during the Middle Ages favored the spread 
of her dogmas, superstitions, and oppression, and that the 
greater intelligence of modern times, the general diffusion of 
knowledge, and the increasing liberality in matters of re- 
ligion, forbid a revival of intolerance and tyranny. The 
very thought that such a state of things will exist in this 
enlightened age is ridiculed. It is true that great light, in- 
tellectual, moral, and religious, is shining upon this genera- 
tion. In the open pages of God's holy Word, light from 
Heaven has been shed upon the world. But it should be re- 
membered that the greater the light bestowed, the greater 
the darkness of those who pervert or reject it. 

A prayerful study of the Bible would show Protestants the 
real character of the papacy, and would cause them to abhor 
and to shun it; but many are so wise in their own conceit 
that they feel no need of humbly seeking God that they may 
be led into the truth. Although priding themselves on their 
enlightenment, they are ignorant both of the Scriptures and 
of the power of God. They must have some means of quiet- 
ing their consciences; and they seek that which is least 
spiritual and humiliating. What they desire is a method of 
forgetting God which shall pass as a method of remember- 
ing him. The papacy is well adapted to meet the wants of 
all these. It is prepared for two classes of mankind, em- 
bracing nearly the whole world, — those who would be saved 
by their merits, and those who would be saved in their sins. 
Here is the secret of its power. 

A day of great intellectual- darkness has been shown to be 
favorable to the success of popery. It will yet be demon- 
strated that a day of great intellectual light is equally fa- 
vorable for its success. In past ages, when men were with- 



AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 573 

out God's Word, and without the knowledge of the truth, 
their eyes were blindfolded, and thousands were ensnared, 
not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation 
there are many whose eyes become dazzled by the glare of 
human speculations, " science falsely so-called ; " they dis- 
cern not the net, and walk into it as readily as if blindfolded. 
God designed that man's intellectual powers should be held as 
a gift from his Maker, and should be employed in the service 
of truth and righteousness; but when pride and ambition are 
cherished, and men exalt their own theories above the Word 
of God, then intelligence can accomplish greater harm than 
ignorance. Thus the false science of the nineteenth century, 
which undermines faith in the Bible, will prove as successful 
in preparing the way for the acceptance of the papacy, with 
its pleasing forms, as did the withholding of knowledge in 
opening the way for its aggrandizement in the Dark Ages. 

In the movements now in progress in the United States to 
secure for the institutions and usages of the church the sup- 
port of the State, Protestants are following in the steps of 
papists. 1 Nay, more, they are opening the door for popery to 
regain in Protestant America the supremacy wdiich she has 
lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater sig- 
nificance to this movement is the fact that the principal 
object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observ- 
ance, — a custom which originated w T ith Rome, and which 
she claims as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit of 
the papacy, — the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, 
the veneration for human traditions above the command- 
ments of God, — that is permeating the Protestant churches, 
and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exalta- 
tion which the papacy has done before them. 

If the reader would understand the agencies to be em- 
ployed in the soon-coming contest, he has but to trace the 
record of the means which Rome employed for the same ob- 
ject in ages past. If he would know how papists and Protest- 

: See Appendix, Note 11. 



574 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

ants united will deal with those who reject their dogmas, 
let him see the spirit which Rome manifested toward the 
Sabbath and its defenders. 

Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances sus- 
tained by secular power, were the steps by which the pagan 
festival attained its position of honor in the Christian world. 
The first public measure enforcing Sunday observance was 
the law enacted by Constantine. 1 This edict required towns- 
people to rest on " the venerable day of the sun," but per- 
mitted countrymen to continue their agricultural pursuits. 
Though virtually a heathen statute, it was enforced by the 
emperor after his nominal acceptance of Christianity. 

The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for 
divine authority, Eusebius, a bishop who sought the favor 
of princes, and who w T as the special friend and flatterer of 
Constantine, advanced the claim that Christ had transferred 
the Sabbath to Sunday. Not a single testimony of the Script- 
ures was produced in proof of the new doctrine. Eusebius 
himself unwittingly acknowledges its falsity, and points to 
the real authors of the change. "All things," he says, " what- 
soever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have 
transferred to the Lord's day." But the Sunday argument, 
groundless as it was, served to embolden men in trampling 
upon the Sabbath, of the Lord. All who desired to be hon- 
ored by the world accepted the popular festival. 

As the papacy became firmly established, the work of 
Sunday exaltation was continued. For a time the people en- 
gaged in agricultural labor when not attending church, and 
the seventh day was still regarded as the Sabbath. But 
steadily a change was effected. Those in holy office were 
forbidden to pass judgment in any civil controversy on the 
Sunday. Soon after, all persons, of whatever rank, were 
commanded to refrain from common labor, on pain of a fine 
for freemen, and stripes in the case of servants. Later it 
was decreed, that rich men should be punished with the loss 

1 A. D. 321. 



ATMS OF THE PAPACY. 575 



of half of their estates; and finally, that if still obstinate 
they should be made slaves. The lower classes were to suf- 
fer perpetual banishment. 

Miracles also were called into requisition. Among other 
wonders it was reported that as a husbandman who was 
about to plow his field on Sunday, cleaned his plow with 
an iron, the iron stuck fast in his hand, and for two years 
he carried it about with him, "to his exceeding great pain 
and shame." 

Later, the pope gave directions that the parish priest 
should admonish the violators of Sunday, and wish them 
to go to church and say their prayers, lest they bring some 
great calamity on themselves and neighbors. An ecclesi- 
astical council brought forward the argument, since so widely 
employed, even by Protestants, that because persons had 
been struck by lightning while laboring on Sunday, it must 
be the Sabbath. " It is apparent," said the prelates, " how 
high the displeasure of God was upon their neglect of this 
day." An .appeal was then made that priests and ministers, 
kings and princes, and all faithful people, "use their utmost 
endeavors and care that the day be restored to its honor, 
and, for the credit of Christianity, more devoutly observed 
for time to come." 

The decrees of councils proving insufficient, the secular 
authorities were besought to issue an edict that would strike 
terror to the hearts of the people, and force them to refrain 
from labor on the Sunday. At a synod held in Rome, all 
previous decisions were reaffirmed with greater force and 
solemnity. They were also incorporated into the ecclesi- 
astical law, and enforced by the civil authorities throughout 
nearly all Christendom. 

Still the absence of scriptural authority for Sunday-keeping 
occasioned no little embarrassment. The people questioned 
the right of their teachers to set aside the positive declaration 
of Jehovah, " The seventh clay is the Sabbath of the Lord 
thy God," in order to honor the day of the sun. To supply 



576 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

the lack of Bible te'stimony, other expedients were necessary. 
A zealous advocate of Sunday, who about the close of the 
twelfth century visited the churches of England, was re- 
sisted by faithful witnesses for the truth; and so fruitless 
were his efforts that he departed from the country for a 
season, and cast about him for some means to enforce his 
teachings. "When he returned, the lack was supplied, and 
in his after-labors he met with greater success. He brought 
with him a roll purporting to be from God himself, which 
contained the needed command for Sunday observance, with 
awful threats to terrify the disobedient. This precious docu- 
ment — as base a counterfeit as the institution it supported — 
was said to have fallen from Heaven, and to have been 
found in Jerusalem, upon the altar of St. Simeon, in Gol- 
gotha. But in fact, the pontifical palace at Rome was the 
source whence it proceeded. Frauds and forgeries to ad- 
vance the power and prosperity of the church have in all 
ages been esteemed lawful by the papal hierarchy. 

The roll forbade labor from the ninth hour, three o'clock, 
on Saturday afternoon, till sunrise on Monday; and its 
authority was declared to be confirmed by many miracles. 
It was reported that persons laboring beyond the appointed 
hour were stricken with paralysis. A miller who attempted 
to grind his corn, saw, instead of flour, a torrent of blood 
come forth, and the mill-wheel stood still, notwithstanding 
the strong rush of the water. A woman who placed dough 
in the oven, found it raw when taken out, though the oven 
was very hot. Another who had dough prepared for bak- 
ing at the ninth hour, but determined to set it aside till 
Monday, found, the next day, that it had been made into 
loaves and baked by divine power. A man who baked 
bread after the ninth hour on Saturday, found, when he 
broke it the next morning, that blood started therefrom. 
By such absurd and superstitious fabrications did the ad- 
vocates of Sunday endeavor to establish its sacredness. 



AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 577 

In Scotland, as in England, a greater regard for Sunday 
was secured by uniting with it a portion of the ancient Sab- 
hath. But the time required to be kept holy varied. An 
edict from the king of Scotland declared that Saturday from 
twelve at noon ought to be accounted holy, and that no 
man, from that time till Monday morning, should engage 
in worldly business. 

But notwithstanding all the efforts to establish Sunday 
sacredness, papists themselves publicly confessed the divine 
authority of the Sabbath, and the human origin of the in- 
stitution by which it had been supplanted. In the sixteenth 
century a papal council plainly declared: "Let all Chris- 
tians remember that the seventh day was consecrated by 
God, and hath been received and observed, not only by the 
Jews, but by all others who pretend to worship God ; though 
we Christians have changed their Sabbath into the Lord's 
day." Those who were tampering with the divine law were 
not ignorant of the character of their work. They were 
deliberately setting themselves above God. 

A striking illustration of Rome's policy toward those who 
disagree with her was given in the long and bloody per- 
secution of the Waldenses, some of whom were observers of 
the Sabbath. Others suffered in a similar manner for their 
fidelity to the fourth commandment. The history of the 
churches of Ethiopia and Abyssinia is especially significant. 
Amid the gloom of the Dark Ages, the Christians of Central 
Africa were lost sight of and forgotten by the world, and for 
many centuries they enjoyed freedom in the exercise of their 
faith. But at last Rome learned of their existence, and the 
emperor of Abyssinia was soon beguiled into an acknowl- 
edgment of the pope as the vicar of Christ. Other con- 
cessions followed. An edict was issued forbidding the ob- 
servance of the Sabbath under the severest penalties. But 
papal tyranny soon became a yoke so galling that the Abys- 
sinians determined to break it from their necks. After a 
terrible struggle, the Romanists were banished from their 



578 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

dominions, and the ancient faith was restored. The churches 
rejoiced in their freedom, and they never forgot the lesson 
they had learned concerning the deception, the fanaticism, 
and the despotic power of Rome. Within their solitary 
realm they were content to remain, unknown to the rest of 
Christendom. 

The churches of Africa held the Sabbath as it was held 
by the papal church before her complete apostasy. While 
they kept the seventh day in obedience to the command- 
ment of God, they abstained from labor on the Sunday in 
conformity to the custom of the church. Upon obtaining 
supreme power, Rome had trampled upon the Sabbath of 
God to exalt her own; but the churches of Africa, hidden 
for nearly a thousand years, did not share in this apostasy. 
When brought under the sway of Rome, they were forced 
to set aside the true and exalt the false Sabbath; but no 
sooner had they regained their independence than they re- 
turned to obedience to the fourth commandment. 1 

These records of the past clearly reveal the enmity of 
Rome toward the true Sabbath and its defenders, and the 
means which she employs to honor the institution of her 
creating. The Word of God teaches that these scenes are 
to be repeated as papists and Protestants shall unite for the 
exaltation of the Sunday. 

The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the power 
represented by the beast with lamb-like horns shall cause 
"the earth and them which dwell therein" to worship the 
papacy — there symbolized by the beast "like unto a leopard." 
The beast with two horns is also to say " to them that dwell 
on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast;" 
and, furthermore, it is to command all, "both small and 
great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive " the mark 
of the beast." 2 It has been shown that the United States 
is the power represented by the beast with lamb-like horns, 
and that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the United 

1 See Appendix, Note 12. 2 Rev. 13 : 11-16. 



AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 579 

States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims 
as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. But in 
this homage to papacy the United States will not be alone. 
The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowl- 
edged her dominion, is still far from being destroyed. And 
prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. " I saw one 
of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly 
wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the 
beast." 1 The infliction of the deadly wound points to the 
abolition of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, 
"His deadly wound was healed; and all the world won- 
dered after the beast." Paul states plainly that the man 
of sin will continue until the second advent. 2 To the very 
close of time he will carry forward his work of deception. 
And the Revelator declares, also referring to the papacy, 
"All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose 
names are not written in the book of life." 3 In both the 
Old and the New World, papacy will receive homage in the 
honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon 
the authority of the Romish Church. 

For about forty years, students of prophecy in the United 
States have presented this testimony to the world. In the 
events now taking place is seen a rapid advance toward the 
fulfillment of the prediction. With Protestant teachers there 
is the same claim of divine authority for Sunday-keeping, 
and the same lack of scriptural evidence, as with the papist 
leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the place of a 
command from God. The assertion that God's judgments 
are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday- 
sabbath, will be repeated ; already it is beginning to be urged. 
And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gain- 
ing ground. 

Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Romish 
Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time, 

1 Rev. 13:3. ^ 2 Thess. 2:8. s Rev. 13:8. 



580 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



seeing that the Protestant churches are paying her homage 
in their acceptance of the false Sabbath, and that they are 
preparing to enforce it by the very means which she herself 
employed in by-gone days. Those who reject the light of 
truth will yet seek the aid of this self-styled infallible power 
to exalt an institution that originated with her. How readily 
she will come to the help of Protestants in this work, it is 
not difficult to conjecture. Who understands better than 
the papal leaders how to deal with those who are disobedient 
to the church ? 

The Roman Church, with all its ramifications throughout 
the world, forms one vast organization, under the control, 
and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its 
millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, 
are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to 
the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, 
they are to regard the authority of the church as above all 
other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loy- 
alty to the State, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience 
to Pome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her 
interests. 

Protestants little know what they are doing when they 
propose to accept the aid of Pome in the 'work of Sunday 
exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment 
of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, 
to recover her lost supremacy. Let history testify of her 
artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs 
of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her 
own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people. Romanism 
openly puts forth the claim that the pope "can pronounce 
sentences and judgments in contradiction to the right of 
nations, to the law of God and man" 1 

And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she 
never changes. The principles of Gregory VII. and Inno- 
cent III. are still the principles of the Romish Church. And 

iThe "Decretalia." 



AIMS OF THE PAPACY, 581 

had she but the power, she would put them in practice w T ith 
as much vigor now as in past centuries. Let the principle 
once be established in the United States, that the church 
may employ or control the power of the State; that religious 
observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that 
the authority of church and State is to dominate the con- 
science, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured. 
God's Word has given warning of the impending danger; 
let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn 
what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too 
late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. 
Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, 
in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling 
up her lofty and massive structures, in the secret recesses of 
which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily 
and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further 
her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. 
All that she desires is vantage-ground, and this is already 
being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the 
purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe 
and obey the Word of God will thereby incur reproach and 
persecution. 



n 



CHAPTER XXXVI 



THE IMPENDING CONFLICT— ITS CAUSES. 

From the very beginning of the great controversy in 
Heaven, it has been Satan's purpose to overthrow the law 
of God. It was to accomplish this that he entered upon his 
rebellion against the Creator; and though he was cast out 
of Heaven, he has continued the same warfare upon the 
earth. To deceive men, and thus lead them to transgress 
God's law, is the object which he has steadfastly pursued. 
Whether this be accomplished by casting aside the law 
altogether, or by rejecting one of its precepts, the result will 
be ultimately the same. He that offends " in one point," 
manifests contempt for the whole law; his influence and 
example are on the side of transgression; he becomes "guilty 
of all." 1 

In seeking to cast contempt upon the divine statutes, 
Satan has perverted the doctrines of the Bible, and errors 
have thus become incorporated into the faith of thousands 
who profess to believe the Scriptures. The last great con- 
flict between truth and error is but the final struggle of the 
long-standing controversy concerning the law of God. Upon 
this battle we are now entering, — a battle between the laws 
of men and the precepts of Jehovah, between the religion 
of the Bible and the religion of fable and tradition. 

The agencies which will unite against truth and right- 
eousness in this contest are now actively at work. God's 
holy Word, which has been handed down to us at such a 
cost of suffering and blood, is but little valued. The Bible 
is within the reach of all, but there are few who really 
accept it as the guide of life. Infidelity prevails to an 

1 James 2 : 10. 

(582) 



THE IMPENDING- CONFLICT. 583 

alarming extent, not in the world merely, but in the church. 
Many have come to deny doctrines which are the very pil- 
lars of the Christian faith. The great facts of creation as 
presented by the inspired writers, the fall of man, the atone- 
ment, and the perpetuity of the law of God, are practically 
rejected, either wholly or in part, by a large share of the 
professedly Christian world. Thousands who pride them- 
selves upon their wisdom and independence regard it an 
evidence of weakness to place implicit confidence in the 
Bible ; they think it a proof of superior talent and learning 
to cavil at the Scriptures, and to spiritualize and explain 
away their most important truths. Many ministers are 
teaching their people, and many professors and teachers are 
instructing their students, that the law of God has been 
changed or abrogated; and those who regard its require- 
ments as still valid, to be literally obeyed, are thought to 
be deserving only of ridicule or contempt. 

In rejecting the truth, men reject its Author. In tramp- 
ling upon the law of God, they deny the authority of the 
Lawgiver. It is as easy to make an idol of false doctrines 
and theories as to fashion an idol of wood or stone. By 
misrepresenting the attributes of God, Satan leads men to 
conceive of him in a false character. With many, a philo- 
sophical idol is enthroned in the place of Jehovah; while 
the living God, as he is revealed in his Word, in Christ, and 
in the works of creation, is worshiped by but few. Thou- 
sands deify nature, while they deny the God of nature. 
Though in a different form, idolatry exists in the Christian 
world to-day as verily as it existed among ancient Israel 
in the days of Elijah. The god of many professedly wise 
men, of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists, — the god 
of polished fashionable circles, of many colleges and uni- 
versities, even of some theological institutions, — is little bet- 
ter than Baal, the sun-god of Phenicia. 

No error accepted by the Christian world strikes more 
holdly against the authority of Heaven, none is more di- 



584 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

rectly opposed to the dictates of reason, none is more per- 
nicious in its results, than the modern doctrine, so rapidly 
gaining ground, that God's law is no longer binding upon 
men. Every nation has its laws, which command respect 
and obedience; no government could exist without them; 
and can it be conceived that the Creator of the heavens and 
the earth has no law to govern the beings he has made? 
Suppose that prominent ministers were publicly to teach 
that the statutes which govern their land and protect the 
rights of its citizens were not obligatory, — that they re- 
stricted the liberties of the people, and therefore ought not 
to be obeyed ; how long would such men be tolerated in the 
pulpit? But is it a graver offense to disregard the laws of 
States and nations than to trample upon those divine pre- 
cepts which are the foundation of all government ? 

It would be far more consistent for nations to abolish their 
statutes, and permit the people to do as they please, than 
for the Ruler of the universe to annul his law, and leave 
the world without a standard to condemn the guilty or 
justify the obedient. Would we know the result of making 
void the law of God? The experiment has been tried. 
Terrible were the scenes enacted in France when atheism 
became the controlling power. It was then demonstrated 
to the world that to throw off the restraints which God has 
imposed is to accept the rule of the cruelest of tyrants. 
When the standard of righteousness is set aside, the way 
is open for the prince of evil to establish his power in the 
earth. 

Wherever the divine precepts are rejected, sin ceases to 
appear sinful, or righteousness desirable. Those who refuse 
to submit to the government of God are wholly unfitted to 
govern themselves. Through their pernicious teachings, 
the spirit of insubordination is implanted in the hearts of 
children and youth, who are naturally impatient of control; 
and a lawless, licentious state of society results. While 
scoffing at the credulity of those who obey the requirements 



THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. 585 

•of God, the multitudes eagerly accept the delusions of Satan. 
They give the rein to lust, and practice the sins which have 
called down judgments upon the heathen. 

Those who teach the people to lightly regard the com- 
mandments of God, sow disobedience, to reap disobedience. 
Let the restraint imposed by the divine law be wholly cast 
aside, and human laws would soon be disregarded. Be- 
cause God forbids dishonest practices, coveting, lying, and 
defrauding, men are ready to trample upon his statutes as 
a hindrance to their worldly prosperity; but the results of 
banishing these precepts would be such as they do not antic 
ipate. If the law were not binding, why should any fear 
to transgress? Property would no longer be safe. Men 
would obtain their neighbor's possessions by violence; and 
the strongest would become richest. Life itself would not 
\>e respected. The marriage vow would no longer stand as 
a sacred bulwark to protect the family. He who had the 
power, would, if he desired, take his neighbor's wife by vio- 
lence. The fifth commandment would be set aside with the 
fourth. Children would not shrink from taking the life of 
their parents, if by so doing they could obtain the desire of 
their corrupt hearts. The civilized world would become a 
horde of robbers and assassins; and peace, rest, and hap- 
piness would be banished from the earth. 

Already the doctrine that men are released from obedience 
to God's requirements has weakened the force of moral obli- 
gation, and opened the flood-gates of iniquity upon the 
world. Lawlessness, dissipation, and corruption are sweep- 
ing in upon us like an overwhelming tide. In the family, 
Satan is at work. His banner waves, even in professedly 
Christian households. There is envy, evil surmising, hypoc- 
risy, estrangement, emulation, strife, betrayal of sacred trusts, 
indulgence of lust. The whole system of religious prin- 
ciples and doctrines, which should form the foundation and 
frame- work of social life, seems to be a tottering mass, ready 
to fall to ruin. The vilest of criminals, when thrown into 



586 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

prison for their offenses, are often made the recipients of 
gifts and attentions, as if they had attained an enviable dis- 
tinction. Great publicity is given to their character and 
crimes. The press publishes the revolting details of vice, 
thus initiating others into the practice of fraud, robbery, and 
murder; and Satan exults in the success of his hellish 
schemes. The infatuation of vice, the wanton taking of 
life, the terrible increase of intemperance and iniquity of 
every order and degree, should arouse all who fear God, to 
inquire what can be done to stay the tide of evil. 

Courts of justice are corrupt, Rulers are actuated by 
desire for gain, and love of sensual pleasure. Intemperance 
has beclouded the faculties of many, so that Satan has 
almost complete control of them. Jurists are perverted, 
bribed, deluded. Drunkenness and revelry, passion, envy, 
dishonesty of every sort, are represented among those who 
administer the laws. "Justice standeth afar off; for truth 
is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." 1 

The iniquity and spiritual darkness that prevailed under 
the supremacy of Rome were the inevitable result of her 
suppression of the Scriptures ; but where is to be found the 
cause of the widespread infidelity, the rejection of the law 
of God, and the consequent corruption, under the full blaze 
of gospel light in an age of religious freedom ? Now that 
Satan can no longer keep the world under his control by 
withholding the Scriptures, he resorts to other means to 
accomplish the same object. To destroy faith in the Bible 
serves his purpose as well as to destroy the Bible itself. By 
introducing the belief that God's law is not binding, he as 
effectually leads men to transgress as if they were wholly 
ignorant of its precepts. And now, as in former ages, he 
has worked through the church to further his designs. The 
religious organizations of the day have refused to listen to 
unpopular truths plainly brought to view in the Scriptures, 
and in combating them they have adopted interpretations 
and taken positions which have sown broadcast the seeds 

1 Isa. 59 : 14. 



THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. 587 

of skepticism. Clinging to the papal error of natural im- 
mortality and man's consciousness in death, they have re- 
jected the only defense against the delusions of Spiritualism. 
The doctrine of eternal torment has led many to disbelieve 
the Bible. And as the claims of the fourth commandment 
are urged upon the people, it is found that the observance 
of the seventh-day Sabbath is enjoined; and as the only 
way to free themselves from a duty which they are un- 
willing to perform, popular teachers declare that the law 
of God is no longer binding. Thus they cast away the law 
and the Sabbath together. As the work of Sabbath reform 
extends, this rejection of the divine law to avoid the claims 
of the fourth commandment will become well-nigh universal. 
The teachings of religious leaders have opened the door to 
infidelity, to Spiritualism, and to contempt for God's holy 
law, and upon these leaders rests a fearful responsibility for 
the iniquity that exists in the Christian world. 

Yet this very class put forth the claim that the fast- 
spreading corruption is largely attributable to the desecra- 
tion of the so-called " Christian Sabbath," and that the en- 
forcement of Sunday observance would greatly improve the 
morals of society. This claim is especially urged in America, 
where the doctrine of the true Sabbath has been most widely 
preached. Here the temperance work, one of the most 
prominent and important of moral reforms, is often com- 
bined with the Sunday movement, and the advocates of the 
latter represent themselves as laboring to promote the highest 
interest of society; and those who refuse to unite with them 
are denounced as the enemies of temperance and reform. 
But the fact that a movement to establish error is connected 
with a work which is in itself good, is not an argument in 
favor of the error. We may disguise poison by mingling 
it with wholesome food, but we do not change its nature. 
On the contrary, it is rendered more dangerous, as it is more 
likely to be taken unawares. It is one of Satan's devices to 
combine with falsehood just enough truth to give it plausi- 



588 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

bility. The leaders of the Sunday movement may advocate 
reforms which the people need, principles which are in har- 
mony with the Bible, yet while there is with these a re- 
quirement which is contrary to God's law, his servants can- 
not unite with them. Nothing can justify them in setting 
aside the commandments of God for the precepts of men. 

Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul, 
and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under 
his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of 
Spiritualism, the latter creates a- bond of sympathy with 
Rome. The Protestants of the United States will be fore- 
most in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the 
hand of Spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to 
clasp hands with, the Roman power; and under the in- 
fluence of this threefold union, this country will follow in 
the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience. 

As Spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Chris- 
tianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and en- 
snare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order 
of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of 
light. Through the agency of Spiritualism, miracles w T ill 
be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable 
wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess 
faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions 
of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation 
of divine power. 

The line of distinction between professed Christians and 
the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church-mem- 
bers love w T hat the world loves, and are ready to join with 
them ; and Satan determines to unite them in one body, and 
thus strengthen his cause by sweeping all into the ranks 
of Spiritualism. Papists, who boast of miracles as a certain 
sign of the true church, will be readily deceived by this 
wonder-working power; and Protestants, having cast away 
the shield of truth, will also be deluded. Papists, Protest- 
ants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness 



THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. 589 

without the power, and they will see in this union a grand 
movement for the conversion of the world, and the ushering 
in of the long-expected millennium. 

Through Spiritualism, Satan appears as a benefactor of 
the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing 
to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith ; 
but at the same time he works as a destroyer. His temp- 
tations are leading multitudes to ruin. Intemperance de- 
thrones reason; sensual indulgence, strife, and bloodshed 
follow. Satan delights in war; for it excites the worst pas- 
sions of the soul, and then sweeps into eternity its victims 
steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the 
nations to war against one another; for he can thus divert 
the minds of the people from the work of preparation to 
stand in the day of God. 

Satan works through the elements also to garner his 
harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets 
of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to 
control the elements as far as God allows. When he was 
suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, 
houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding 
another as in a moment. It is God that shields his creat- 
ures, and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. 
But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of 
Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what he has declared 
that he would, he will withdraw his blessings from the 
earth, and remove his protecting care from those who are 
rebelling against his law, and teaching and forcing others 
to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does 
not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some, in 
order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble 
upon others, and lead men to believe that it is God who is 
afflicting them. 

While appearing to the children of men as a great phy- 
sician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease 
and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and 



590 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



desolation. Even now lie is at work. In accidents and 
calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in 
fierce tornadoes and terrific hail-storms, in tempests, floods, 
cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and 
in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his powder. He 
sweeps aw r ay the ripening harvest, and famine and distress 
follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands 
perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become 
more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will 
be upon both man and beast. " The earth mourneth and 
facleth aw T ay," "the haughty people ... do languish. 
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; be- 
cause they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordi- 
nance, broken the everlasting covenant." 1 

And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those 
who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have 
provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their 
troubles upon those whose obedience to God's command- 
ments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be 
declared that men are offending God by the violation of the 
Sunday-sabbath, that this sin has brought calamities which 
will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly en- 
forced, and that those who present the claims of the fourth 
commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are 
troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine 
favor and temporal prosperity. Thus the accusation urged 
of old against the servant of God will be repeated, and upon 
grounds equally well established. "And it came to pass, 
when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou 
he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not 
troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye 
have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou 
hast followed Baalim.." 2 As the wrath of the people shall 
be excited by false charges, they will pursue a course toward 
God's ambassadors very similar to that which apostate Israel 
pursued toward Elijah. 

x Isa. 24:4, 5. 2 1 Kings 18 : 17, 18. 



THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. 591 

The miracle-working power manifested through Spirit- 
ualism will exert its influence against those who choose to 
obey God rather than men. Communications from the 
spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the 
rejecters of Sunday of their error, affirming that the laws 
of the land should be obeyed as the law of God. They will 
lament the great wickedness in the world, and second the 
testimony of religious teachers, that the degraded state of 
morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will 
be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept 
their testimony. 

Satan's policy in this final conflict with God's people is 
the same that he employed in the opening of the great con- 
troversy in Heaven. He professed to be seeking to promote 
the stability of the divine government, while secretly bend- 
ing every effort to secure its overthrow. And the very work 
which he was thus endeavoring to accomplish, he charged 
upon the loyal angels. The same policy of deception has 
marked the history of the Romish Church. It has professed 
to act as the vicegerent of Heaven, while seeking to exalt 
itself above God, and to change his law. Under the rule 
of Rome, those who suffered death for their fidelity to the 
gospel were denounced as evil-doers; they were declared to 
be in league with Satan; and every possible means was 
employed to cover them with reproach, to cause them to 
appear, in the eyes of the people, and even to themselves, 
as the vilest of criminals. So it will be now. While Satan 
seeks to destroy those who honor God's law he will cause 
them to be accused as law-breakers, as men who are dis- 
honoring God, and bringing judgments upon the world. 

God never forces the will or the conscience; but Satan's 
constant resort — to gain control of those whom he cannot 
otherwise seduce — is compulsion by cruelty. Through fear 
or force he endeavors to rule the conscience, and to secure 
homage to himself. To accomplish this, he works through 
both religious and secular authorities, moving them to the 
enforcement of human laws in defiance of the law of God. 



592 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced 
as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral 
restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and 
calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their 
conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stub- 
bornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused 
of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny 
the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit 
the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as 
ordained of God. In legislative halls and courts of justice, 
•commandment-keepers will be misrepresented and con- 
demned. A false coloring will be given to their words; 
the worst construction will be j)ut upon their motives. 

As the Protestant churches reject the clear, scriptural 
arguments in defense of God's law, they will long to silence 
those whose faith they cannot overthrow by the Bible. 
Though they blind their own eyes to the fact, they are now 
adopting a course which will lead to the persecution of 
those who conscientiously refuse to do what the rest of the 
Christian world are doing, and acknowledge the claims of 
the papal Sabbath. 

The dignitaries of church and State will unite to bribe, 
persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The 
lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive en- 
actments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice 
and regard for truth ; and even in free America, rulers and 
legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the 
popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. 
Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, 
will no longer be respected^' In the soon-coming conflict 
we shall see exemplified the prophet's words: "The dragon 
was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the 
remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, 
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." l 

1 Rev. 12 : 17. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 

" To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not 
according to this word, it is because there is no light in 
them." 1 The people of God are directed to the Scriptures as 
their safeguard against the influence of false teachers and 
the delusive power of spirits of darkness. Satan employs 
every possible device to prevent men from obtaining a 
knowledge of the Bible ; for its plain utterances reveal his 
deceptions. At every revival of God's work, the prince of 
evil is aroused to more intense activity ; he is now putting 
forth his utmost efforts for a final struggle against Christ and 
his followers. The last great delusion is soon to open before 
us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our 
sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true, that 
it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by 
the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement 
and every miracle must be tested. 

Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of 
God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in 
God. In order to endure the trial before them, they must 
understand the will of God as revealed in his Word; they 
can honor him only as they have a right conception of his 
character, government, and purposes, and act in accordance 
with them. None but those who have fortified the mind 
with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great 
conflict. To every soul will come the searching test, Shall I 
obey God rather than men ? The decisive hour is even now 
at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock of God's imrnu- 

1 Isa. 8 : 20. 

(593) 



594 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

table Word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of 
the commandments of God and the faith of Jesns ? 

Before his crucifixion, the Saviour explained to his disci- 
ples that he was to be put to death, and to rise again from 
the tomb ; and angels were present to impress his words on 
minds and hearts. But the disciples were looking for tem- 
poral deliverance from the Roman yoke, and they could not 
tolerate the thought that He in whom all their hopes cen- 
tered should suffer an ignominious death. The words which 
they needed to remember were banished from their minds; 
and when the time of trial came, it found them unprepared. 
The death of Jesus as fully destroyed their hopes as if he 
had not forewarned them. So in the prophecies the future 
is opened before us as plainly as it was opened to the disci- 
ples by the words of Christ. The events connected with the 
close of probation and the work of preparation for the time 
of trouble, are clearly presented. But multitudes have no 
more understanding of these important truths than if they 
had never been revealed. Satan watches to catch away 
every impression that would make them wise unto salvation, 
and the time of trouble will find them unready. 

When God sends to men warnings so important that they 
are represented as proclaimed by holy angels flying in the 
midst of heaven, he requires every person endowed with rea- 
soning powers to heed the message. The fearful judgments 
denounced against the worship of the beast and his image, 1 
should lead all to a diligent study of the prophecies to learn 
what the mark of the beast is, and how they are to avoid 
receiving it. But the masses of the people turn away their 
ears from hearing the truth, and are turned unto fables. 
The apostle Paul declared, looking down to the last days, 
"The time will come when they will not endure sound doc- 
trine." 2 That time has fully come. The multitudes do not 
want Bible truth, because it interferes with the desires of the 
sinful, world-loving heart; and Satan supplies the deceptions 
which they love. 

1 Rev. 14:9-11. 2 2 Tim. 4:3. 



THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 595 

Bui God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the 
Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines, 
and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, 
the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesi- 
astical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the 
churches which they represent, the voice of the majority, — 
not one or all of these should be regarded as evidence for or 
against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any 
doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain " Thus saith 
the Lord " in its support. 

Satan is constantly endeavoring to attract attention to man 
in the place of God. He leads the people to look to bishops, 
to pastors, to professors of theology, as their guides, instead of 
searching the Scriptures to learn their duty for themselves. 
Then, by controlling the minds of these leaders, he can in- 
fluence the multitudes according to his will. 

When Christ came to speak the words of life, the common 
people heard him gladl} 7 ; and many, even of the priests and 
rulers, believed on him. But the chief of the priesthood 
and the leading men of the nation were determined to con- 
demn and repudiate his teachings. Though they were 
baflled in all their efforts to find accusations against him, 
though they could not but feel the influence of the divine 
power and wisdom attending his words, yet they encased 
themselves in prejudice; they rejected the clearest evidence 
of his Messiahship, lest they should be forced to become his 
disciples. These opponents of Jesus were men whom the 
people had been taught from infancy to reverence, to whose 
authority they had been accustomed implicitly to bow. 
" How is it," they asked, " that our rulers and learned scribes 
do not believe on Jesus ? Would not these pious men re- 
ceive him if he were the Christ ? " It was the influence of 
such teachers that led the Jewish nation to reject their 
Eedeemer. 

The spirit which actuated those priests and rulers is still 
manifested by many who make a high profession of piety. 



596 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

They refuse to examine the testimony of the Scriptures con- 
cerning the special truths for this time. They point to their 
own numbers, wealth, and popularity, and look with con- 
tempt upon the advocates of truth as few, poor, and unpop- 
ular, having a faith that separates them from the world. 

Christ foresaw that the undue assumption of authority 
indulged by the scribes and Pharisees would not cease with 
the dispersion of the Jews. He had a prophetic view of the 
work of exalting human authority to rule the conscience, 
which has been so terrible a curse to the church in all ages. 
And his fearful denunciations of the scribes and Pharisees, 
and his warnings to the people not to follow these blind 
leaders, were placed on record as an admonition to future 
generations. 

The Romish Church reserves to the clergy the right to 
interpret the Scriptures. On the ground that ecclesiastics 
alone are competent to explain God's Word, it is withheld 
from the common people. Though the Reformation gave 
the Scriptures to all, yet the self-same principle which was 
maintained by Rome prevents multitudes in Protestant 
churches from searching the Bible for themselves. They are 
taught to accept its teachings as interpreted by the church; 
and there are thousands who dare receive nothing, however 
plainly revealed in Scripture, that is contrary to their creed, 
or the established teaching of their church. 

Notwithstanding the Bible is full of warnings against false 
teachers, many are ready thus to commit the keeping of 
their souls to the clergy. There are to-day thousands of 
professors of religion who can give no other reason for points 
of faith which they hold than that they were so instructed 
by their religious leaders. They pass by the Saviour's teach- 
ings almost unnoticed, and place implicit confidence in the 
words of the ministers. But are ministers infallible ? How 
can we trust our souls to their guidance unless we know 
from God's Word that they are light-bearers? A lack of 
moral courage to step aside from the beaten track of the 



THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 507 



world, leads many to follow in the steps of learned men; 
and by their reluctance to investigate for themselves, they 
are becoming hopelessly fastened in the chains of error. 
They see that the truth for this time is plainly brought to 
view in the Bible, and they feel the power of the Holy Spirit 
attending its proclamation; yet they allow the opposition 
of the clergy to turn them from the light. Though reason 
and conscience are convinced, these deluded souls dare not 
think differently from the minister; and their individual 
judgment, their eternal interests, are sacrificed to the un- 
belief, the pride and prejudice, of another. 

Many are the ways by which Satan ivorks through human 
influence to bind his captives. He secures multitudes to 
himself by attaching them by the silken cords of affection 
to those who are enemies of the cross of Christ. Whatever 
this attachment may be, parental, filial, conjugal, or social, 
the effect is the same; the opposers of truth exert their 
power to control the conscience, and the souls held under 
their sway have not sufficient courage or independence to 
obey their own convictions of duty. 

. The truth and the glory of God are inseparable; it is 
impossible for us, with the Bible within our reach, to honor 
God by erroneous opinions. Many claim that it matters 
not what one believes, if his life is only right. But the life 
is moulded by the faith. If light and truth are within our 
reach, and we neglect to improve the privilege of hearing 
and seeing it, we virtually reject it; we are choosing dark- 
ness rather than light, 

" There is a way that seemeth right unto a man , but the 
end thereof are the ways of death." l Ignorance is no ex- 
cuse- for error or sin, when there is every opportunity to 
know the will of God. A man is traveling, and comes to 
a place where there are several roads, and a guide-board 
indicating where each one leads. If he disregards the guide- 
board, and takes whichever road seems to him to be right, 

^rov. 16 :25. 
42 



598 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



he may be ever so sincere, but will in all probability find 
himself on the wrong road. 

God has given us his Word that we may become ac- 
quainted with its teachings, and know for ourselves what 
he requires of us. When the lawyer came to Jesus with 
the inquiry, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" the 
Saviour referred him to the Scriptures, saying, "What is 
written in the law? how readest thou?" Ignorance will not 
excuse young or old, or release them from the punishment 
due for the transgression of God's law, because there is in 
their hands a faithful presentation of that law and of its 
principles and its claims. It is not enough to have good 
intentions; it is not enough to do what a man thinks is right, 
or what the minister tells him is right. His soul's salvation 
is at stake, and he should search the Scriptures for himself. 
However strong may be his convictions, however confident 
he may be that the minister knows what is truth, this is not 
his foundation. He has a chart pointing out every way- 
mark on the heavenward journey, and he ought not to 
guess at anything. 

It is the first and highest duty of every rational being to 
learn from the Scriptures what is truth, and then to walk 
in the light, and encourage others to follow his example. 
We should day by day study the Bible diligently, weighing 
every thought, and comparing scripture with scripture. 
With divine help, we are to form our opinions for our- 
selves, as we are to answer for ourselves before God. 

The truths most plainly revealed in the Bible have been 
involved in doubt and darkness by learned men, who, with 
a pretense of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have 
a mystical, a secret, spiritual meaning not apparent in the 
language employed. These men are false teachers. It was 
to such a class that Jesus declared, " Ye know not the Script- 
ures, neither the power of God." 1 The language of the 
Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, 

iMark 12:24. 



THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 599 



unless a symbol or figure is employed. Christ lias given the 
promise, " If any man will do His will, lie shall know of the 
doctrine." 1 If men would but take the Bible as it reads, 
if there were no false teachers to mislead and confuse their 
minds, a work would he accomplished that would make 
angels glad, and that would bring into the fold of Christ 
thousands upon thousands who are now wandering in error. 

We should exert all the powers of the mind in the study 
of the Scriptures, and should task the understanding to com- 
prehend, as far as mortals can, the deep things of God; yet 
we must not forget that the docility and submission of a 
child is the true spirit of the learner. Scriptural difficulties 
can never be mastered by the same methods that are em- 
ployed in grappling with philosophical problems. "We 
should not engage in the study of the Bible with that self- 
reliance with which so many enter the domains of science, 
but with a prayerful dependence upon God, and a sincere 
desire to learn his will. We must come with a humble and 
teachable spirit to obtain knowledge from the great I AM. 
Otherwise, evil angels will so blind our minds and harden 
our hearts that we shall not be impressed by the truth. 

Many a portion of Scripture which learned men pro- 
nounce a mystery, or pass over as unimportant, is full of 
comfort and instruction to him who has been taught in the 
school of Christ. One reason why many theologians have 
no clearer understanding of God's W^ord is, they close their 
eyes to truths which they do not wish to practice. An un- 
derstanding of Bible truth depends not so much on the 
power of intellect brought to the search as on the singleness 
of purpose, the earnest longing after righteousness. 

The Bible should never be studied without prayer. The 
Holy Spirit alone can cause us to feel the importance of 
those things easy to be understood, or prevent us from wrest- 
ing truths difficult of comprehension. It is the office of 
heavenly angels to prepare the heart to so comprehend God's 

i John 7: 17. 



600 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Word that we shall be charmed with its beauty, admonished 
by its warnings, or animated and strengthened by its prom- 
ises. We should make the psalmist's petition our own: 
" Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things 
out of thy law." 1 Temptations often appear irresistible 
because, through neglect of prayer and the study of the 
Bible, the tempted one cannot readily remember God's 
promises and meet Satan with the Scripture weapons. But 
angels are round about those who are willing to be taught 
in divine things; and in the time of great necessity, they will 
bring to their remembrance the very truths which are needed. 
Thus " when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit 
of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.'' 2 

Jesus promised his disciples, "The Comforter, the Holy 
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall 
teach you all things, and bring all things to your remem- 
brance, whatsoever I have said unto you.'" 2 But the teach- 
ings of Christ must previously have been stored in the mind,, 
in order for the Spirit of God to bring them to our remem- 
brance in the time of peril. "Thy Word have I hid in 
mine heart," said David, " that I might not sin against thee/ * 

All who value their eternal interests should be on their 
guard against the inroads of skepticism. The very pillars 
of truth will be assailed. It is impossible to keep beyond 
the reach of the sarcasms and sophisms, the insidious and 
pestilent teachings, of modern infidelity. Satan adapts his 
temptations to all classes. He assails the illiterate with a 
jest or sneer, while he meets the educated with scientific 
objections and philosophical reasoning, alike calculated to 
excite distrust or contempt of the Scriptures. Even youth 
of little experience presume to insinuate doubts concerning 
the fundamental principles of Christianity. And this youth- 
ful infidelity, shallow as it is, has its influence. Many are 
thus led to jest at the faith of their fathers, and to do despite 
to the Spirit of grace. 5 Many a life that promised to be an 

^Ps. 119:18. 2 Isa. 59:19. 3 John 14 -.26! 4 Ps. 119:11. 
5 Heb. 10 : 29. 



THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 601 

honor to God and a blessing to the world, has been blighted 
by the foul breath of infidelity. All who trust to the boast- 
ful decisions of human reason, and imagine that they can 
explain divine mysteries, and arrive at truth unaided by 
the wisdom of God, are entangled in the snare of Satan. 

We are living in the most solemn period of this world's 
history. The destiny of earth's teeming multitudes is about 
to be decided. Our own future well-being, and also the 
salvation of other souls, depends upon the course which we 
now pursue. We need to be guided by the Spirit of truth. 
Every follower of Christ should earnestly inquire, " Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do? " We need to humble our- 
selves before the Lord, with fasting and prayer, and to 
meditate much upon his Word, especially upon the scenes 
of the Judgment. We should now seek a deep and living 
experience in the things of God. We have not a moment 
to lose. Events of vital importance are taking place around 
us; we are on Satan's enchanted ground. Sleep not. sen- 
tinels of God; the foe is lurking near, ready at any moment, 
should you become lax and drowsy, to spring upon you and 
make you his prey. 

Many are deceived as to their true condition before God. 
They congratulate themselves upon the wrong acts which 
they do not commit, and forget to enumerate the good and 
noble deeds which God requires of them, but which they 
have neglected to perform. It is not enough that they are 
trees in the garden of God. They are to answer his expec- 
tation by bearing fruit. He holds them accountable for 
their failure to accomplish all the good which they could 
have done, through his grace strengthening them. In the 
books of Heaven they are registered as cumberers of the 
ground. Yet the case of even this class is not utterly hope- 
less. With those who have slighted God's mercy and abused 
his grace, the heart of long-suffering love yet pleads. " Where- 
fore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye 



602 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

walk circumspectly, . . . redeeming the time, because 
the days are evil." l 

When the testing time shall come, those who have made 
God's Word their rule of life will be revealed. In summer 
there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and 
other trees; but when the blasts of winter come, the ever- 
greens remain unchanged, while other trees are stripped of 
their foliage. So the false-hearted professor may not now 
be distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just 
upon us when the difference will be apparent. Let oppo- 
sition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let 
persecution be kindled, and the half-hearted and hypocritical 
will waver and yield the faith; but the true Christian will 
stand firm as a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, 
than in days of prosperity. 

Says the psalmist: " Thy testimonies are my meditation." 
"Through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I 
hate every false way." 2 

"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom." "He shall be 
as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her 
roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but 
her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year 
of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." 3 

1 Eph. 5 : 14-16. 2 Ps. 119 : 99, 104. 3 Prov. 3 : 13; Jer. 17 :8. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



THE FINAL WARNING. 

" I saw another angel come down from Heaven, having 
great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon 
the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation 
of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of 
every unclean and hateful bird." " And I heard another 
voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, 
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not 
of her plagues." * 

This scripture points forward to a time when the an- 
nouncement of the fall of Babylon, as made by the second 
angel 2 of Revelation 14, is to be repeated, with the addi- 
tional mention of the corruptions which have been entering 
the various organizations that constitute Babylon, since that 
message was first given, in the summer of 1844. A terrible 
condition of the religious world is here described. With 
every rejection of truth, the minds of the people will become 
darker, their hearts more stubborn, until they are entrenched 
in an infidel hardihood. In defiance of the warnings which 
God has given, they will continue to trample upon one of 
the precepts of the decalogue, until they are led to persecute 
those who hold it sacred. Christ is set at naught in the 
contempt placed upon his Word and his people. As the 
teachings of Spiritualism are accepted by the churches, the 
restraint imposed upon the carnal heart is removed, and the 
profession of religion will become a cloak to conceal the 
basest iniquity. A belief in spiritual manifestations opens 

J Eev. 18:1, 2, 4. 2 Rev. 14:8. 

(603) 



604 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



the door to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, and thus 
the influence of evil angels will be felt in the churches. 

Of Babylon, at the time brought to view in this prophecy, 
it is declared, " Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God 
hath remembered her iniquities." 1 She has filled up the 
measure of her guilt, and destruction is about to fall upon 
her. But God still has a people in Babylon; and before the 
visitation of his judgments, these faithful ones must be called 
out, that they "partake not of her sins, and receive not of 
her plagues." Hence the movement symbolized by the 
angel coming down from Heaven, lightening the earth with 
his glory, and crying mightily with a strong voice, announc- 
ing the sins of Babylon. In connection with his message 
the call is heard, "Gome out of her, my people." These 
announcements, uniting with the third angel's message, 
constitute the final warning to be given to the inhabitants 
of the earth. 

Fearful is the issue to which the world is to be brought. 
The powers of earth, uniting to war against the command- 
ments of God, will decree that all, " both small and great, 
rich and poor, free and bond," 2 shall conform to the cus- 
toms of the church by the observance of the false sabbath. 
All who refuse compliance will be visited with civil pen- 
alties, and it will finally be declared that they are deserving 
of death. On the other hand, the law of God enjoining the 
Creator's rest-day demands obedience, and threatens wrath 
against all who transgress its precepts. 

With the issue thus clearly brought before him, whoever 
shall trample upon God's law to obey a human enactment, 
receives the mark of the beast; he accepts the sign of alle- 
giance to the power which he chooses to obey instead of God. 
The warning from Heaven is, " If any man worship the 
beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, 
or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the 
wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the 
cup of his indignation." 3 

^ev. 18:5. 2 Rev. 13:16. 3 Rev. 14:9, 10. 



THE FINAL WARNING. 605 

Bui not one is made to suffer the wrath of God until the 
truth has been brought home to his mind and conscience, 
and has been rejected. There are many who have never 
had an opportunity to hear the special truths for this time. 
The obligation of the fourth commandment has never been 
set before them in its true light. He who reads every heart, 
and tries every motive, will leave none who desire a knowl- 
edge of the truth, to be deceived as to the issues of the con- 
troversy. The decree is not to be urged upon the people 
blindly. Every one is to have sufficient light to make his 
decision intelligently. 

The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty; for it- is the 
point of truth especially controverted. When the final test 
shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of dis- 
tinction will be drawn between those who serve God and 
those who serve him not. While the observance of the false 
sabbath in compliance with the law of the State, contrary 
to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance 
to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the 
true Sabbath, in obedience to God's law, is an evidence of 
loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the 
sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of 
the beast, the other, choosing the token of allegiance to 
divine authority, receive the seal of God. x 

Heretofore those who presented the truths of the third 
angel's message have often been regarded as mere alarmists. 
Their predictions that religious intolerance would gain con- 
trol in the United States, that church and State would unite 
to persecute those who keep the commandments of God, 
have been pronounced groundless and absurd. It has been 
confidently declared that this land could never become other 
than what it has been, the defender of religious freedom. 
But as the question of enforcing Sunday observance is widely 
agitated, the event so long doubted and disbelieved is seen 
to be approaching, and the third message will produce an 
effect which it could not have had before. 

1 See Appendix, Note 13. 



606 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

In every generation God has sent his servants to rebuke 
sin, both in the world and in the church. But the people 
desire smooth things spoken to them, and the pure, un- 
varnished truth is not acceptable. Many reformers, in en- 
tering upon their work, determined to exercise great pru- 
dence in attacking the sins of the church and the nation. 
They hoped, by the example of a pure Christian life, to lead 
the people back to the doctrines of the Bible. But the Spirit 
of God came upon them as it came upon Elijah, moving 
him to rebuke the sins of a wicked king and an apostate 
people; they could not refrain from preaching the plain 
utterances of the Bible, — doctrines which they had been 
reluctant to present. They were impelled to zealously de- 
clare the truth, and the danger which threatened souls. 
The words which the Lord gave them they uttered, fearless 
of consequences, and the people were compelled to hear the 
warning. 

Thus the message of the third angel will be proclaimed. 
As the time comes for it to be given with greatest power, 
the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading 
the minds of those who consecrate themselves to his service. 
The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of his 
Spirit than by the training of literary institutions. Men of 
faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy 
zeal, declaring the words which God gives them. The sins 
of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of en- 
forcing the observances of the church by civil authority, the 
inroads of Spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of 
the papal power, — ail will be unmasked. By these solemn 
warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thou- 
sands will listen who have never heard words like these. 
In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the 
church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her 
rejection of the truth sent to her from Heaven. As the 
people go to their former teachers with the eager inquiry, 
Are these things so? the ministers present fables, prophesy 



THE FINAL WARNING. 6u7 

smooth things, to soothe their fears, and quiet the awakened 
conscience. But since many refuse to he satisfied with the 
mere authority of men, and demand a plain " Thus saith 
the Lord," the popular ministry, like the Pharisees of old, 
filled with anger as their authority is questioned, will de- 
nounce the message as of Satan, and stir up the sin-loving 
multitudes to revile and persecute those who proclaim it. 

As the controversy extends into new fields, and the minds 
of the people are called to God's down-trodden law, Satan 
is astir. The power attending the message will only madden 
those who oppose it. The clergy will put forth almost super- 
human efforts to shut away the light, lest it should shine 
upon their flocks. By every means at their command they 
will endeavor to suppress the discussion of these vital ques- 
tions. The church appeals to the strong arm of civil power, 
and in this work, papists and Protestants unite. As the 
movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold and 
decided, the law will be invoked against commandment- 
keepers. They will be threatened with fines and impris- 
onment, and some will be offered positions of influence, and 
other rewards and advantages, as inducements to renounce 
their faith. But their steadfast answer is, " Show us from 
the Word of God our error,"' — the same plea that was made 
by Luther under similar circumstances. Those who are 
arraigned before the courts make a strong vindication of 
the truth, and some who hear them are led to take their 
stand to keep all the commandments of God. Thus light 
will be brought before thousands who otherwise would know 
nothing of these truths. 

Conscientious obedience to the Word of God will be treated 
as rebellion. Blinded by Satan, the parent will exercise 
harshness and severity toward the believing child; the 
master or mistress will oppress the commandment-keeping 
servant. Affection will be alienated; children will be dis- 
inherited, and driven from home. The words of Paul will 
be literally fulfilled, " All that will live godly in Christ Jesus 



608 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

shall suffer persecution." 1 As the defenders of truth refuse 
to honor the Sunday-sabbath, some of them will be thrust 
into prison, some will be exiled, some will be treated as 
slaves. To human wisdom, all this now seems impossible; 
but as the restraining Spirit of God shall be withdrawn from 
men, and they shall be under the control of Satan, who 
hates the divine precepts, there will be strange develop- 
ments. The heart can be very cruel when God's fear and 
love are removed. 

As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed 
faith in the third angel's message, but have not been sanc- 
tified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position, 
and join the ranks of the opposition. By uniting with the 
world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view 
matters in nearly the same light; and when the test is 
brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side. 
Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in 
the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. 
They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. 
When Sabbath-keepers are brought before the courts to 
answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient 
agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by 
false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against 
them. 

In this time of persecution the faith of the Lord's servants 
will be tried. They have faithfully given the warning, 
looking to God and to his Word alone. God's Spirit, mov- 
ing upon their hearts, has constrained them to speak. 
Stimulated with holy zeal, and with the divine impulse 
strong upon them, they entered upon the performance of 
their duties without coldly calculating the consequences of 
speaking to the people the word which the Lord had given 
them. They have not consulted their temporal interests, 
or sought to preserve their reputation or their lives. Yet 
when the storm of opposition and reproach bursts upon 

1 2 Tim. 3 : 12. 



THE FINAL WARNING. 609 



them, some, overwhelmed with consternation, will be ready 
to exclaim, " Had we foreseen the consequences of our words, 
we would have held our peace." They are hedged in with 
difficulties. Satan assails them with fierce temptations. 
The work which they have undertaken seems far beyond 
their ability to accomplish. They are threatened with de- 
struction. The enthusiasm which animated them is gone; 
yet they cannot turn back. Then, feeling their utter help- 
lessness, they flee to the Mighty One for strength. They 
remember that the words which they have spoken were not 
theirs, but His who bade them give the warning. God put 
the truth into their hearts, and they could not forbear to 
proclaim it. 

The same trials have been experienced by men of God in 
ages past. Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Tyndale, Baxter, AVesley, 
urged that all doctrines be brought to the test of the Bible, 
and declared that they would renounce everything which 
it condemned. Against these men, persecution raged with 
relentless fury; yet they ceased not to declare the truth. 
Different periods in the history of the church have each 
been marked by the development of some special truth, 
adapted to the necessities of God's people at that time. 
Every new truth has made its way against hatred and oppo- 
sition; those who were blessed with its light were tempted 
and tried. The Lord gives a special truth for the people 
in an emergency. Who dare refuse to publish it? He com- 
mands his servants to present the last invitation of mercy 
to the world. They cannot remain silent, except at the 
peril of their souls. Christ's ambassadors have nothing to 
do with consequences. They must perforin their duty, and 
leave results with God. 

As the opposition rises to a fiercer height, the servants of 
God are again perplexed; for it seems to them that they 
have brought the crisis. But conscience and the Word of 
God assure them that their course is right; and although 
the trials continue, they are strengthened to bear them. 



610 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

The contest grows closer and sharper, but their faith and 
courage rise with the emergency Their testimony is, " We 
dare not tamper with God's Word, dividing his holy law, 
calling one portion essential and another non-essential, to 
gain the favor of the world. The Lord whom we serve is 
able to deliver us. Christ has conquered the powers of 
earth; and shall we be afraid of a world already conquered?" 

Persecution in its varied forms is the development of a 
principle which will exist as long as Satan exists, and Chris- 
tianity has vital power. No man can serve God without 
enlisting against himself the opposition of the hosts of dark- 
ness. Evil angels will assail him, alarmed that his influence 
is taking the prey from their hands. Evil men, rebuked 
by his example, will unite with them in seeking to separate 
him from God by alluring temptations. When these do 
not succeed, then a compelling power is employed to force 
the conscience. 

But so long as Jesus remains man's intercessor in the 
sanctuary above, the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit 
is felt by rulers and people. It still controls, to some ex- 
tent, the laws of the land. Were it not for these laws, the 
condition of the world would be much worse than it now 
is. While many of our rulers are active agents of Satan, 
God also has his agents among the leading men of the 
nation. The enemy moves upon his servants to propose 
measures that would greatly impede the work of God; but 
statesmen who fear the Lord are influenced by holy angels 
to oppose such propositions with unanswerable arguments. 
Thus a few men will hold in check a powerful current of 
evil. The opposition of the enemies of truth will be re- 
strained that the third angel's message may do its work. 
When the final warning shall be given, it will arrest the 
attention of these leading men through whom the Lord is 
now working, and some of them will accept it, and will 
stand with the people of God through the time of trouble. 

The angel who unites in the proclamation of the third 



THE FINAL WARNING. 611 



angel's message is to lighten the whole earth with his glory. 
A work of world-wide extent and unwonted power is here 
foretold. The Advent movement of 1840-44 was a glorious 
manifestation of the power of God; the first angel's message 
was carried to every missionary station in the world, and 
in some countries there was the greatest religious interest 
which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation 
of the sixteenth century; but these are to be far exceeded 
by the mighty movement under the last warning of the 
third angel. 

The work will be similar to that of the day of Pentecost. 
As the "former rain" was given, in the outpouring of the 
Holy Spirit at the opening of the gospel, to cause the up- 
springing of the precious seed, so the " latter rain " will be 
given at its close, for the ripening of the harvest. " Then 
shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord ; his going 
forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto 
us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." l 
"Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord 
your God; for he hath given you the former rain mod- 
erately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, 
the former rain, and the latter rain." 2 "In the last days, 
saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." 
"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the 
name of the Lord shall be saved." 3 The great work of the 
gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power 
of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which 
were fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the 
opening of the gospel, are again to be fulfilled in the latter 
rain at its close. Here are "the times of refreshing" to 
which the apostle Peter looked forward when he said, "Re- 
pent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be 
blotted out [in the investigative Judgment], when the times 
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and 
he shall send Jesus." * 

1 Hosea6:3. 2 Joel2:i:3. 3 Acts 2 : 17, 21. * Acts 3 : 19, 20. 



612 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining 
with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to 
proclaim the message from Heaven. By thousands of 
voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. Mir- 
acles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and 
wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works with 
lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the 
sight of men. : Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be 
brought to take their stand. 

The message will be carried not so much by argument 
as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The argu- 
ments have been presented. The seed has been sown, and 
now it will spring up and bear fruit. The publications dis- 
tributed by missionary workers have exerted their influence-, 
yet many whose minds were impressed have been prevented 
from fully comprehending the truth or from yielding obe- 
dience. Now the rays of light penetrate everywhere, the 
truth is seen in its clearness, and the honest children of God 
sever the bands which have held them. Family connec- 
tions, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. 
Truth is more precious than all besides. Notwithstanding 
the agencies combined against the truth, a large number 
take their stand upon the Lord's side. 

^ev. 13:13. 




w 

53 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



"THE TIME OF TROUBLE." 

"At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince 
which stancleth for the children of thy people; and there 
shall he a time of trouble, such as never was since there was 
a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people 
shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in 
the book." 1 

When the third angel's message closes, mercy no longer 
pleads for the guilty inhabitants of the earth. The people of 
God have accomplished their work. They have received 
"the latter rain," "the refreshing from the presence of the 
Lord," and they are prepared for the trying hour before them. 
Angels are hastening to and fro in Heaven. An angel re- 
turning from the earth announces that his work is done ; the 
final test has been brought upon the world, and all who have 
proved themselves loyal to the divine precepts have received 
" the seal of the living God." 2 Then Jesus ceases his interces- 
sion in the sanctuary aboA T e. He lifts his hands, and with a 
loud voice says, " It is done ;" and all the angelic host lay off 
their crowns as he makes the solemn announcement: "He 
that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, 
let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be 
righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still." 3 
Every case has been decided for life or death. Christ has 
made the atonement for his people, and blotted out their 
sins. The number of his subjects is made up; "the king- 
dom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under 
the whole heaven," is about to be given to the heirs of sal- 

1 Dan. 12 : 1. * See Appendix, Note 13. 3 Kev. 22 : 11. 

(613^ 



614 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



vation, and Jesus is to reign as King of kings, and Lord of 
lords. 

When lie leaves the sanctuary, darkness covers the inhab- 
itants of the earth. In that fearful time the righteous must 
live in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor. The 
restraint which has been upon the wicked is removed, and 
Satan has entire control of the finally impenitent. God's 
long-suffering has ended. The world has rejected his mercy, 
despised his love, and trampled upon his law. The wicked 
have passed the boundary of their probation; the Spirit of 
God, persistently resisted, has been at last withdrawn. Un- 
sheltered by divine grace, they have no protection from the 
wicked one. Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the 
earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of God 
cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, 
all the elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world 
will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came 
upon Jerusalem of old. 

A single angel destroyed all the first-born of the Egyp- 
tians, and filled the land with mourning. When David 
offended against God by numbering the people, one angel 
caused that terrible destruction by which his sin was pun- 
ished. The same destructive power exercised by holy angels 
when God commands, will be exercised by evil angels when 
he permits. There are forces now ready, and only waiting 
the divine permission, to spread desolation everywhere. 

Those who honor the law of God have been accused of 
bringing judgments upon the world, and they will be re- 
garded as the cause of the fearful convulsions of nature and 
the strife and bloodshed among men that are filling the 
earth with woe. The power attending the last warning has 
enraged the wicked ; their anger is kindled against all who 
have received the message, and Satan will excite to still 
greater intensity the spirit of hatred and persecution. 

When God's presence was finally withdrawn from the 
Jew r ish nation, priests and people knew it not. Though 



THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 615 

under the control of Satan, and swayed by the most horrible 
and malignant passions, they still regarded themselves as 
the chosen of God. The ministration in the temple con- 
tinned ; sacrifices were offered upon its polluted altars, and 
daily the divine blessing was invoked upon a people guilty 
of the blood of God's dear Son, and seeking to slay his min- 
isters and apostles. So when the irrevocable decision of the 
sanctuary has been pronounced, and the destiny of the 
world has been forever fixed, the inhabitants of the earth 
will know it not. The forms of religion will be continued 
by a people from whom the Spirit of God has been finally 
withdrawn ; and the Satanic zeal with which the prince of 
evil will inspire them for the accomplishment of his malig- 
nant designs, will bear the semblance of zeal for God. 

As the Sabbath has become the special point of contro- 
versy throughout Christendom, and religious and secular 
authorities have combined to enforce the observance of the 
Sunday, the persistent refusal of a small minority to yield to 
the popular demand, will make them objects of universal 
execration. It will be urged that the few who stand in op- 
position to an institution of the church and a law of the 
State, ought not to be tolerated; that it is better for them to 
suffer than for whole nations to be thrown into confusion 
and lawlessness. The same argument eighteen hundred 
years ago was brought against Christ by the " rulers of the 
people." " It is expedient for us," said the wily Caiaphas, 
"that one man should die for the people, and that the whole 
nation perish not." l This argument will appear conclusive; 
and a decree will finally be issued against those who hallow 
the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, denouncing them 
as deserving of the severest punishment, and giving the 
people liberty, after a certain time, to put them to death. 
Romanism in the Old World, and apostate Protestantism in 
the New, will pursue a similar course toward those who 
honor all the divine precepts. 

1 John 11 :50. 



616 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes 
of affliction and distress described by the prophet as the 
time of Jacob's trouble. "Thus saith the Lord: We have 
heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace." " All 
faces are turned into paleness. Alas ! for that day is great, 
so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; 
but he shall be saved out of it." 1 

Jacob's night of anguish, when he wrestled in prayer for 
deliverance from the hand of Esau, 2 represents the expe- 
rience of God's people in the time of trouble. Because of 
the deception practiced to secure his father's blessing, in- 
tended for Esau, Jacob had fled for his life, alarmed by his 
brother's deadly -threats. After remaining for many years 
an exile, he had set out, at God's command, to return with 
his wives and children, his flocks and herds, to his native 
country. On reaching the borders of the land, he was filled 
with terror by the tidings of Esau's approach at the head 
of a band of warriors, doubtless bent upon revenge. Jacob's 
company, unarmed and defenseless, seemed about to fall 
helpless victims of violence and slaughter. And to the 
burden of anxiety and fear was added the crushing weight 
of self-reproach; for it was his own sin that had brought 
this danger. His only hope was in the mercy of God; his 
only defense must be prayer. Yet he leaves nothing un- 
done on his own part to atone for the wrong to his brother, 
and to avert the threatened clanger. So should the followers 
of Christ, as they approach the time of trouble, make every 
exertion to place themselves in a proper light before the 
people, to disarm prejudice, and to avert the danger which 
threatens liberty of conscience. 

Having sent his family away, that they may not witness 
his distress, Jacob remains alone to intercede w T ith God. He 
confesses his sin, and gratefully acknowledges the mercy of 
God toward him, while with deep humiliation he pleads the 
covenant made with his fathers, and the promises to him- 

1 Jer. 30 : 5-7- 2 Gen. 32 : 24-30. 



THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 617 

self in the night vision at Bethel and in the land of his 
exile. The crisis in his life has come; everything is at 
stake. In the darkness and solitude lie continues praying 
and humbling himself before God. Suddenly a hand is 
laid upon his shoulder. He thinks that an enemy is seek- 
ing his life, and with all the energy of despair he wrestles 
with his assailant. As the clay begins to break, the stranger 
puts forth his superhuman power; at his touch the strong 
man seems paralyzed, and he falls, a helpless, weeping sup- 
pliant, upon the neck of his mysterious antagonist. Jacob 
knows now that it is the Angel of the covenant with whom 
he has been in conflict. Though disabled, and suffering the 
keenest pain, he does not relinquish his purpose. Long has 
he endured perplexity, remorse, and trouble for his sin ; now 
he must have the assurance that it is pardoned. The divine 
visitant seems about to depart; but Jacob clings to him, 
pleading for a blessing. The Angel urges, "Let me go; for 
the day breaketh;" but the patriarch exclaims, "I will not 
let thee go, except thou bless me." What confidence, what 
firmness and perseverance, are here displayed! Had this 
been a boastful, presumptuous claim, Jacob would have been 
instantly destroyed ; but his was the assurance of one who 
confesses his weakness and unworthiness, yet trusts the 
mercy of a covenant-keeping God. 

" He had power over the Angel, and prevailed." l Through 
humiliation, repentance, and self-surrender, this sinful, erring 
mortal prevailed with the Majesty of Heaven. He had 
fastened his trembling grasp upon the promises of Gocl, and 
the heart of Infinite Love could not turn away the sinner's 
plea. As an evidence of his triumph, and an encourage- 
ment to others to imitate his example, his name was changed 
from one which was a reminder of his sin, to one that com- 
memorated his victory. And the fact that Jacob had pre- 
vailed with God was an assurance that he would prevail 
with men. He no longer feared to encounter his brother's 
anger; for the Lord y.aS his defense. 

1 Hos. 12:4. 



618 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

Satan had accused Jacob before the angels of God, claim- 
ing the right to destroy him because of his sin; he had 
moved upon Esau to inarch against him ; and during the 
patriarch's long night of wrestling, Satan endeavored to 
force upon him a sense of his guilt, in order to discourage 
him, and break his hold upon God. Jacob was driven 
almost to despair; but he knew that without help from 
Heaven he must perish. He had sincerely repented of his 
great sin, and he appealed to the mercy of God. He would 
not be turned from his purpose, but held fast the Angel, and 
urged his petition with earnest, agonizing cries, until he 
prevailed. 

As Satan influenced Esau to march against Jacob, so he 
will stir up the wicked to destroy God's people in the time 
of trouble. And as he accused Jacob, he will urge his accu- 
sations against the people of God. He numbers the world 
as his subjects; but the little company who keep the com- 
mandments of God are resisting his supremacy. If he could 
blot them from the earth, his triumph would be complete. 
He sees that holy angels are guarding them, and he infers 
that their sins have been pardoned; but he does not know 
that their cases have been decided in the sanctuary above. 
He has an accurate knowledge of the sins which he has 
tempted them to commit, and he presents these before God 
in the most exaggerated light, representing this people to 
be just as deserving as himself of exclusion from the favor 
of God. He declares that the Lord cannot in justice forgive 
their sins, and yet destroy him and his angels. He claims 
them as his prey, and demands that they be given into his 
hands to destroy. 

As Satan accuses the people of God on account of their 
sins, the Lord permits him to try them to the uttermost. 
Their confidence in God, their faith and firmness, will be 
severely tested. As they review the past, their hopes sink; 
for in their whole lives they can see little good. They are 
fully conscious of their weakness and unworthiness. Satan 



THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 619 



endeavors to terrify them with the thought that their cases 
are hopeless, that the stain of their defilement will never 
be washed away. He hopes to so destroy their faith that 
they will yield to his temptations, and turn from their alle- 
giance to God. 

Though Clod's people will be surrounded by enemies who 
are bent upon their destruction, yet the anguish which they 
suffer is not a dread of persecution for the truth's sake; they 
fear that every sin has not been repented of, and that 
through some fault in themselves they shall fail to realize 
the fulfillment of the Saviour's promise, " I will keep thee 
from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the 
world." 1 If they could have the assurance of pardon, they 
would not shrink from torture or death ; but should they 
prove unworthy, and lose their lives because of their own 
defects of character, then God's holy name would be re- 
proached. 

On every hand they hear the plottings of treason, and see 
the active working of rebellion; and there is aroused within 
them. an intense desire, an earnest yearning of soul, that this 
great apostasy may be terminated, and the wickedness of the 
wicked may come to an end. But while they plead with 
God to stay the work of rebellion, it is with a keen sense of 
self-reproach that they themselves have no more power to 
resist and urge back the mighty tide of evil. They feel that 
had they always employed all their ability in the service of 
Christ, going forward from strength to strength, Satan's 
forces would have less power to prevail against them. 

They afflict their souls before God, pointing to their past 
repentance of their many sins, and pleading the Saviour's 
promise, " Let him take hold of my strength, that he may 
make peace with me ; and he shall make peace with me." 2 
Their faith does not fail because their prayers are not im- 
mediately answered. Though suffering the keenest anxiety, 
terror, and distress, they do not cease their intercessions. 

1 Rev. 3 : 10. 2 isa. 27 : 5. 



620 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

They lay hold of the strength of God as Jacob laid hold of 
the Angel; and the language of their souls is, " I will not let 
thee go, except thou bless me." 

Had not Jacob previously repented of his sin in obtaining 
the birthright by fraud, God would not have heard his 
prayer and mercifully preserved his life. So, in the time of 
trouble, if the people of God had unconfessed sins to appear 
before them while tortured with fear and anguish, they 
would be overwhelmed; despair would cut off their faith, 
and they could not have confidence to plead with God for 
deliverance. But while they have a deep sense of their un- 
worthiness, they have no concealed wrongs to reveal. Their 
sins have gone .beforehand to Judgment, and have been 
blotted out ; and they cannot bring them to remembrance. 

Satan leads many to believe that God will overlook their 
unfaithfulness in the minor affairs of life; but the Lord 
shows in his dealings with Jacob that he will in nowise 
sanction or tolerate evil. All who endeavor to excuse or 
conceal their sins, and permit them to remain upon the 
books of Heaven, unconfessed and unforgiven, will be over- 
come by Satan. The more exalted their profession, and the 
more honorable the position which they hold, the more 
grievous is their course in the sight of God, and the more 
sure the triumph of their great adversary. Those who de- 
lay a preparation for the day of God cannot obtain it in the 
time of trouble, or at any subsequent time. The case of all 
such is hopeless. 

Those professed Christians who come up to that last fear- 
ful conflict unprepared, will, in their despair, confess their 
sins in words of burning anguish, while the wicked exult 
over their distress. These confessions are of the same char- 
acter as was that of Esau or of Judas. Those who make 
them lament the result of transgression, but not its guilt. 
They feel no true contrition, no abhorrence of evil. They 
acknowledge their sir, through fear of punishment; but, like 
Pharaoh of old, they would return to their defiance of 
Heaven, should the judgments be removed. 



TEE TIME OF TROUBLE. 021 

Jacob's history is also an assurance that God will not cast 
off those who have been deceived, and tempted, and betrayed 
into sin, but who have returned unto him with true repent- 
ance. While Satan seeks to destroy this class, God will send 
his angels to comfort and protect them in the time of peril. 
The assaults of Satan are fierce and determined, his delu- 
sions are terrible; but the Lord's eye is upon his people, and 
his ear listens to their cries. Their affliction is great, the 
flames of the furnace seem about to consume them ; but the 
Refiner will bring them forth as gold tried in the fire. God's 
love for his children during the period of their severest trial 
is as strong and tender as in the days of their sunniest pros- 
perity ; but it is needful for them to be placed in the furnace 
fire; their earthliness must be consumed that the image of 
Christ may be perfectly reflected. 

The season of distress and anguish before us will require 
a faith that can endure weariness, delay, and hunger, — a 
faith that will not faint, though severely tried. The period 
of probation is granted to all to prepare for that time. Jacob 
prevailed because he was persevering and determined. His 
victory is an evidence of the power of importunate prayer. 
All who will lay hold of God's promises, as he did, and be 
as earnest and persevering as he was, will succeed as he suc- 
ceeded. Those who are unwilling to deny self, to agonize 
before God, to pray long and earnestly for his blessing, will 
not obtain it. Wrestling with God — how few know what it 
is ! How few have ever had their souls drawn out after God 
with intensity of desire until every power is on the stretch. 
When waves of despair which no language can express 
sweep over the suppliant, how few cling with unyielding 
faith to the promises of God. 

Those who exercise but little faith now, are in the greatest 
danger of falling under the power of Satanic delusions and 
the decree to compel the conscience. And even if they en- 
dure the test, they will be plunged into deeper distress and 
anguish in the time of trouble, because they have never 



622 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

made it a habit to trust in God. The lessons of faith which 
they have neglected, they will be forced to learn under a 
terrible pressure of discouragement 

We should now acquaint ourselves with God by proving 
his promises. Angels record every prayer that is earnest 
and sincere. We should rather dispense with selfish grati- 
fications than neglect communion with God. The deepest 
poverty, the greatest self-denial, with his approval, is better 
than riches, honors, ease, and friendship without it. We 
must take time to pray. If we allow our minds to be ab- 
sorbed by worldly interests, the Lord may give us time by 
removing from us our idols of gold, of houses, or of fertile 
lands. 

The young would not be seduced into sin if they would 
refuse to enter any path, save that upon which they could 
ask God's blessing. If the messengers who bear the last 
solemn warning to the world would pray for the blessing 
of God, not in a cold, listless, lazy manner, but fervently and 
in faith, as did Jacob, they would find many places w T here 
they could say, "I have seen God face to face, and my life 
is preserved." l Thej 7- would be accounted of Heaven as 
princes, having power to prevail with God and with men. 

The " time of trouble such as never was," is soon to open 
upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not 
now possess, and which many are too indolent to obtain. 
It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation 
than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. 
The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude 
of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand 
for himself before God. Though Noah, Daniel, and Job 
were in the land, " as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall 
deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver 
their own souls by their righteousness." 2 

Now, while our great High Priest is making the atone- 
ment for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Not 
even by a thought could our Saviour be brought to yield to 

1 Gen. 32:30. 2 Eze. 14:20. 



THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 623 

the power of temptation. Satan finds in human hearts some 
point where he can gain a foot-hold; some sinful desire is 
cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their 
power. But Christ declared of himself, " The prince of this 
world cometh, and hath nothing in me." 1 Satan could find 
nothing in the Son of God that would enable him to gain 
the victory. He had kept his Father's commandments, and 
there was no sin in him that Satan could use to his advan- 
tage. This is the condition in which those must be found 
who shall stand in the time of trouble. 

It is in this life that we are to separate sin from us, through 
faith in the atoning blood of Christ. Our precious Saviour 
invites us to join ourselves to him, to unite our weakness 
to his strength, our ignorance to his wisdom, our un wor- 
thiness to his merits. God's providence is the school in 
which we are to learn the meekness and lowliness of Jesus. 
The Lord is ever setting before us, not the way we would 
choose, which seems easier and pleasanter to us, but the 
true aims of life. It rests with us to co-operate with the 
agencies which Heaven employs, in the work of conforming 
our characters to the divine model. None can neglect or 
defer this w T ork but at the most fearful peril to their souls. 

The apostle John in vision heard a loud voice in Heaven 
exclaiming, " Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the 
sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great 
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." 2 
Fearful are the scenes which call forth this exclamation from 
the heavenly voice. The wrath of Satan increases as his 
time grows short, and his work of deceit and destruction will 
reach its culmination in the time of trouble. 

Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be 
revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle- 
working demons. The spirits of devils will go forth to the 
kings of the earth and to the whole world, to fasten them 
in deception, and urge them on to unite with Satan in his 
last struggle against the government of Heaven. By these 

1 John 14:30. 2 Rev. 12:12. 



624 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



agencies, rulers and subjects will be alike deceived. Per- 
sons will arise pretending to be Christ himself, and claiming 
the title and worship which belong to the world's Redeemer. 
They will perform wonderful miracles of healing, and will 
profess to have revelations from Heaven contradicting the 
testimony of the Scriptures. 

As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, 
Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long 
professed to look to the Saviour's advent as the consum- 
mation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make 
it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the 
earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic 
being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of 
the Son of God 'given by John in the Revelation. 1 The 
glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that 
mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings 
out upon the air, " Christ has come ! Christ has come ! " The 
people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while 
he lifts up his hands, and pronounces a blessing upon them, 
as Christ blessed his disciples when he was upon the earth. 
His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gen- 
tle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gra- 
cious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals 
the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed char- 
acter of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to 
Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has 
blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy 
the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to 
listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This 
is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. Like the 
Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the mul- 
titudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to these 
sorceries, saying, This is " the great power of God." 2 

But the people of God will not be misled. The teachings 
of this false christ are not in accordance with the Scriptures. 
His blessing is pronounced upon the worshipers of the beast 

^ev. 1 : 13-15. 2 Acts. 8:10. 



THE TIME OF TROUBLE. G25 



and his image, — the very class upon whom the Bible de- 
clares that God's unmingled wrath shall be poured out. 

And, furthermore, Satan is not permitted to counterfeit 
the manner of Christ's advent. The Saviour has warned 
his people against deception upon this point, and has clearly 
foretold the manner of his second coming. " There shall 
arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great 
signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they 
shall deceive the very elect. . . . Wherefore if they shall 
say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth : behold, 
he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the 
lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto 
the west ; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." x 
This coming, there is no possibility of counterfeiting. It will 
be universally known — witnessed by the whole world. 

Only those who have been diligent students of the Script- 
ures, and who have received the love of the truth, will be 
shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world 
captive. By the Bible testimony these will detect the de- 
ceiver in his disguise. To all, the testing time will come. 
By the sifting of temptation, the genuine Christian will be 
revealed. Are the people of God now so firmly estab- 
lished upon his Word that they would not yield to the evi- 
dence of their senses ? Would they, in such a crisis, cling to 
the Bible, and the Bible only ? Satan will, if possible, pre- 
vent them from obtaining a preparation to stand in that 
day. He will so arrange affairs as to hedge up their way, 
entangle them with earthly treasures, cause them to carry 
a heavy, wearisome burden, that their hearts may be over- 
charged with the cares of this life, and the day of trial may 
come upon them as a thief. 

As the decree issued by the various rulers of Christendom 
against commandment-keepers shall withdraw the protection 
of government, and abandon them to those who desire their 
destruction, the people of God will flee from the cities and 

1 Matt. 24 : 24-27, 31; 25 : 31; Rev. 1 : 7; 1 Thess. 4 : 16, 17. 



626 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, 



villages, and associate together in companies, dwelling in 
the most desolate and solitary places. Many will find refuge 
in the strongholds of the mountains. Like the Christians 
of the Piedmont valleys, they will make the high places of 
the earth their sanctuaries, and will thank God for the 
"munitions of rocks." 1 But many of all nations, and all 
classes, high and low, rich and poor, black and white, will 
be cast into the most unjust and cruel bondage. The be- 
loved of God pass weary days, bound in chains, shut in by 
prison bars, sentenced to be slain, some apparently left to 
die of starvation in dark and loathsome dungeons. No 
human ear is open to hear their moans; no human hand 
is ready to lend them help. 

Will the Lord forget his people in this trying hour? Did 
he forget faithful Noah when judgments were visited upon 
the antediluvian world ? Did he forget Lot when the fire 
came down from Heaven to consume the cities of the plain? 
Did he forget Joseph surrounded by idolaters in Egypt? 
Did he forget Elijah when the oath of Jezebel threatened 
him with the fate of the prophets of Baal ? Did he forget 
Jeremiah in the dark and dismal pit of his prison-house ? 
Did he forget the three worthies in the fiery furnace? or 
Daniel in the den of lions ? 

"Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath 
forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that 
she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? 
yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I 
have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." 2 The Lord 
of hosts has said, "He that touch eth you, toucheth the apple 
of his eye." 3 

Though enemies may thrust them into prison, yet dungeon 
walls cannot cut off the communication between their souls 
and Christ. One who sees their every weakness, who is 
acquainted with every trial, is above all earthly powers ; and 
angels will come to them in lonely cells, bringing light and 
peace from Heaven. The prison will be as a palace; for 

1 Isa. 33 : 16. * Isa. 49 : 14-16. 3 Zech. 2 : 8. 



THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 627 

the rich in faith dwell there, and the gloomy walls will be 
lighted up with heavenly light, as when Paul and Silas 
prayed and sung praises at midnight in the Philippian 
dungeon. 

God's judgments will be visited upon those who are seek- 
ing to oppress and destroy his people. His long forbearance 
with the wicked emboldens men in transgression, but their 
punishment is none the less certain and terrible because it 
is long delayed. "The Lord shall rise up as in Mount 
Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that 
he may do his work, his strange work ; and bring to pass 
his act, his strange act." 1 To our merciful God the act of 
punishment is a strange act, " As I live, saith the Lord 
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." 2 The 
Lord is "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant 
in goodness and truth," "forgiving iniquity and trans- 
gression and sin." Yet he will "by no means clear the 
guilty." " The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, 
and will not at all acquit the wicked." 3 By terrible things 
in righteousness he will vindicate the authority of his down- 
trodden law. The severity of the retribution awaiting the 
transgressor may be judged by the Lord's reluctance to 
execute justice. The nation with which he bears long, and 
which he will not smite until it has filled up the measure 
of its iniquity in God's account, will finally drink the cup 
of wrath unmixed with mercy. 

When Christ ceases his intercession in the sanctuary, the 
unmingled wrath threatened against those who worship the 
beast and his image and receive his mark,* will be poured 
out. The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to 
deliver Israel, were similar in character to those more ter- 
rible and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the 
world just before the final deliverance of God's people. Says 
the Rev elator, in describing these terrific scourges, " There 
fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had 

Usa. 28:21. ^Eze. 33:11. 3 Ex. 34 : 6, 7; Xah. 1 :3. 

* Rev. 14 : 9, 10. 
44 



628 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his 
image." The sea "became as the blood of a dead man, and 
every living soul died in the sea." And "the rivers and 
fountains of waters became blood." 1 Terrible as these in- 
flictions are, God's justice stands fully vindicated. The 
angel of God declares, " Thou art righteous, Lord, . . . 
because thou hast judged thus. For the} 7 " have shed the 
blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them 
blood to drink; for they are worthy." 1 By condemning the 
people of God to death they have as truly incurred the guilt 
of their blood, as if it had been shed by their hands. In 
like manner Christ declared the Jews of his time guilty of 
all the blood of holy men which had been shed since the 
days of Abel; for they possessed the same spirit, and were 
seeking to do the same work, with these murderers of the 
prophets. 

In the plague that follows, power is given to the sun " to 
scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great 
heat." l The prophets thus describe the condition of the earth 
at this fearful time: " The land mourneth ; . . . because 
the harvest of the field is perished." " All the trees of the 
field are withered; because joy is withered away from the 
sons of men." " The seed is rotten under their clods, the 
garners are laid desolate." " How do the beasts groan ! the 
herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture. 
. . . The rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath 
devoured the pastures of the wilderness." "The songs of 
the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord 
God; there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they 
shall cast them forth with silence." 2 

These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the 
earth would be wholly cut off. Yet they will be the most 
awful scourges that have ever been known to mortals. All 
the judgments upon men, prior to the close of probation, 
have been mingled with mercy. The pleading blood of 

1 Rev. 16 : 2-6, 8, 9. 2 Joel 1 : 10-12, 17-20; Amos 8 : 3. 



THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 629 

Christ has shielded the sinner from receiving the full measure 
of his guilt; but in the final Judgment, wrath is poured out 
unmixed with mercy. 

In that day, multitudes will desire the shelter of God's 
mercy which they have so long despised. "Behold, the 
days come, saitli the Lord God, that I will send a famine 
in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, 
but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall 
wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the 
east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, 
and shall not find it." l 

The people of God will not be free from suffering; but 
while persecuted and distressed, while they endure priva- 
tion, and suffer for want of food, they will not be left to 
perish. That God who cared for Elijah will not pass by one 
of his self-sacrificing children. He who numbers the hairs 
of their head will care for them, and in time of famine they 
shall be satisfied. While the wicked are dying from hunger 
and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous, and supply 
their wants. To him that " walketh righteously " is the 
promise, "Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be 
sure." "When the poor and needy seek water, and there 
is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will 
hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them." 2 

"Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall 
fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and 
the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off 
from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; " yet 
shall they that fear him "rejoice in the Lord," and joy in 
the God of their salvation. 3 

"The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy 
right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the 
moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all 
evil; he shall preserve thy soul." "He shall deliver thee 
from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pesti- 

i Amos 8: 11, 12. 2 Isa. 33 : 16; 41 : 17. 3 Hab. 3 : 17, 18. 



630 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

lence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his 
wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and 
buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; 
nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence 
that walketh in darkness ; nor for the destruction that wasteth 
at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten 
thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh 
thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the 
reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, 
which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; 
there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague 
come nigh thy dwelling." l 

Yet to human sight it will appear that the people of God 
must soon seal their testimony with their blood, as did the 
martyrs before them. They themselves begin to fear that 
the Lord has left them to fall by the hand of their enemies. 
It is a time of fearful agony. Day and night they cry unto 
God for deliverance. The wicked exult, and the jeering 
cry is heard, "Where now is your faith? Why does not 
God deliver you out of our hands if you are indeed his 
people ? " But the waiting ones remember Jesus dying upon 
Calvary's cross, and the chief priests and .rulers shouting 
in mockery, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. 
If he be the King of Israel, let him now come clown from 
the cross, and we will believe him." 2 Like Jacob, all are 
wrestling with God. Their countenances express their in- 
ternal struggle. Paleness sits upon every face. Yet they 
cease not their earnest intercession. 

Could men see with heavenly vision, they would behold 
companies of angels that excel in strength stationed about 
those who have kept the word of Christ's patience. With 
sympathizing tenderness, angels have witnessed their dis- 
tress, and have heard their prayers. They are waiting the 
word of their Commander to snatch them from their peril. 
But they must wait yet a little longer. The people of God 

1 Ps. 121 : 5-7; 91 : 3-10. 2 Matt. 27 : 42. 



THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 631 

must drink of the cup, and be baptized with the baptism. 
The very delay, so painful to them, is the best answer to 
their petitions. As they endeavor to wait trustingly for the 
Lord to work, they are led to exercise faith, hope, and pa- 
tience, which have been too little exercised during their 
religious experience. Yet for the elect's sake, the time of 
trouble will be shortened. "Shall not God avenge his own 
elect, which cry day and night unto him? ... I tell 
you that he will avenge them speedily." x The end will 
come more quickly than men expect. The wheat will be 
gathered and bound in sheaves for the garner of God ; the 
tares will be bound as fagots for the fires of destruction. 

The heavenly sentinels, faithful to their trust, continue 
their watch. Though a general decree has fixed the time 
when commandment-keepers may be put to death, their 
enemies will in some cases anticipate the decree, and, before 
the time specified, will endeavor to take their lives. But none 
can pass the mighty guardians stationed about every faithful 
soul. Some are assailed in their flight from the cities and 
villages ; but the swords raised against them break and fall 
as powerless as a straw. Others are defended by angels in 
the form of men of war. 

In all ages, God has wrought through holy angels for the 
succor and deliverance of his people. Celestial beings have 
taken an active part in the affairs of men. They have ap- 
peared clothed in garments that shone as the lightning; 
they have come as men, in the garb of wayfarers. Angels 
have appeared in human form to men of God. They have 
rested, as if weary, under the oaks at noon. They have 
accepted the hospitalities of human homes. They have 
acted as guides to benighted travelers. They have, with 
their own hands, kindled the fires of the altar. They have 
opened prison doors, and set free the servants of the Lord. 
Clothed with the panoply of Heaven, they came to roll away 
the stone from the Saviour's tomb. 

In the form of men, angels are often in the assemblies of 

iLuke 18:7, 8. 



632 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, 

the righteous, and they visit the assemblies of the wicked, 
as they went to Sodom, to make a record of their deeds, to 
determine whether they have passed the boundary of God's 
forbearance. The Lord delights in mercy; and for the sake 
of a few who really serve him, he restrains calamities, and 
prolongs the tranquillity of multitudes. Little do sinners 
against God realize that they are indebted for their own 
lives to the faithful few whom they delight to ridicule and 
oppress. 

Though, the rulers of this world know it not, yet often 
in their councils angels have been spokesmen. Human 
eyes have looked upon them; human ears have listened to 
their appeals; human lips have opposed their suggestions 
and ridiculed their counsels ; human hands have met them 
with insult and abuse. In the council hall and the court 
of justice, these heavenly messengers have shown an inti- 
mate acquaintance with human history ; they have proved 
themselves better able to plead the cause of the oppressed 
than were their ablest and most eloquent defenders. They 
haA T e defeated purposes and arrested evils that would have 
greatly retarded the work of God, and would have caused 
great suffering to his people. In the hour of peril and dis- 
tress, " the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them 
that fear him, and delivereth them." l 

With earnest longing, God's people await the tokens of 
their coming King. As the watchmen are accosted, "What 
of the night ? " the answer is given unfalteringly, " ' The 
morning cometh, and also the night.' 2 Light is gleaming 
upon the clouds above the mountain tops. Soon there will 
be a revealing of His glory. The Sun of Righteousness is 
about to shine forth. The morning and the night are both 
at hand, — the opening of endless day to the righteous, the 
settling down of eternal night to the wicked." 

As the wrestling ones urge their petitions before God, the 
veil separating them from the unseen seems almost With- 
es. 31:7. 2 Isa. 21 :11, 12. 



THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 633 

drawn. The heavens glow with the dawning of eternal day, 
and, like the melody of angel songs, the words fall upon 
the ear, "Stand fast to your allegiance. Help is coming." 
Christ, the almighty victor, holds out to his weary soldiers 
a crown of immortal glory; and his voice comes from the 
gates ajar: " Lo, I am with you. Be not afraid. I am ac- 
quainted with all your sorrows; I have borne your griefs. 
You are not warring against untried enemies. I have 
fought the battle in your behalf, and in my name you are 
more than conquerors." 

The precious Saviour will send help just when we need 
it. The way to Heaven is consecrated by his foot-prints. 
Every thorn that wounds our feet has w r ounded his. Every 
cross that we are called to bear, he has borne before us. 
The Lord permits conflicts, to prepare the soul for peace. 
The time of trouble is a fearful ordeal for God's people; 
but it is the time for every true believer to look up, and by 
faith he may see the bow of promise encircling him. 

" The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with 
singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their 
head; they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and 
mourning shall flee away. I, even I, am he that comforteth 
you; who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man 
that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made 
as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker; . . . and 
hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the 
oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the 
fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he 
may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor 
that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, 
that divided the sea, whose waves roared. The Lord of 
hosts is his name. And I have put my words in thy mouth, 
and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand." 

" Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, 
but not with wine: Thus saith thy Lord Jehovah, and thy 
God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have 



634 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the 
dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it 
again. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict 
thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may 
go over; and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and 
as the street, to them that went over." 1 

The eye of God, looking down the ages, was fixed upon 
the crisis which his people are to meet, when earthly powers 
shall be arrayed against them. Like the captive exile, they 
will be in fear of death by starvation or by violence. But 
the Holy One who divided the Red Sea before Israel, will 
manifest his mighty power and turn their captivity. " They 
shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when 
I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man 
spareth his own son that serveth him." 2 If the blood of 
Christ's faithful witnesses were shed at this time, it would 
not, like the blood of the martyrs, be as seed sown to yield 
a harvest for God. Their fidelity would not be a testimony 
to convince others of the truth; for the obdurate heart has 
beaten back the waves of mercy until they return no more. 
If the righteous were now left to fall a prey to their enemies, 
it would be a triumph for the prince of darkness. Says the 
psalmist, "In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his 
pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me." 3 
Christ has spoken: "Come, my people, enter thou into thy 
chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as 
it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over- 
past. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to 
punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity."* 
Glorious will be the deliverance of those who have patiently 
waited for his coming, and whose names are written in the 
book of life. 

^sa. 51 : 11-16, 21-23. 2 Mai. 3:17. 3 Ps. 27:5. i Isa. 26 : 20, 21. 



CHAPTER XL. 



GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 

When the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn 
from those who honor the law of God, there will be, in dif- 
ferent lands, a simultaneous movement for their destruction. 
As the time appointed in the decree draws near, the people 
will conspire to root out the hated sect. It will be deter- 
mined to strike in one night a decisive blow, wdiich shall 
utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof. 

The people of God — some in prison cells, some hidden in 
solitary retreats in the forests and the mountains — still plead 
for divine protection, while in every quarter companies of 
armed men, urged on by hosts of evil angels, are preparing 
for the work of death. It is now, in the hour of utmost 
extremity, that the God of Israel will interpose for the de- 
liverance of his chosen. Saith the Lord: "Ye shall have 
a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and 
gladness of heart, as when one goeth ... to come 
into the mountain of Jehovah, to the Mighty One of Israel. 
And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and 
shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indig- 
nation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, 
with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones." 1 

With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs 
of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when lo, a 
dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls 
upon the earth. Then a rainbow, shining with the glory 
from the throne of God, spans the heavens, and seems to 
encircle each j^raying company. The angry multitudes are 

1 Isa. 30 : 29, 30. 

(635) 



636 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

suddenly arrested. Their mocking cries die away. The 
objects of their murderous rage are forgotten. With fearful 
forebodings they gaze upon the symbol of God's covenant, 
and long to be shielded from its overpowering brightness. 

By the people of God a voice, clear and melodious, is 
heard, saying, "Look up," and, lifting their eyes to the 
heavens, they behold the bow of promise. The black, 
angry clouds that covered the firmament are parted, and 
like Stephen they look up steadfastly into Heaven, and see 
the glory of God, and the Son of man seated upon his throne. 
In his divine form they discern the marks of his humilia- 
tion; and from his lips they hear the request, presented 
before his Father and the holy angels, "I w T ill that they 
also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." 1 
Again a voice, musical and triumphant, is heard, saying, 
"They come! they come! holy, harmless, and undefiled. 
They have kept the word of my patience; they shall walk 
among the angels;" and the pale, quivering lips of those 
who have held fast their faith, utter a shout of victory. 

It is at midnight that God manifests his power for the 
deliverance of his people. The sun appears, shining in its 
strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. 
The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, 
while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of 
their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out 
of its course. The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy 
clouds come up, and clash against each other. In the midst 
of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable 
glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many 
waters, saying, " It is clone." 2 ' 

That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is 
a mighty earthquake, " such as was not since men were 
upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great." 2 
The firmament appears to open and shut. The glory from 
the throne of God seems flashing through. The mount- 

1 John 17:24. 2 Rev. 16 : 17, 18. 



GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 637 

ains si uike like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are 
scattered on every side. There is a roar as -of a coming 
tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the 
shriek of the hurricane, like the voice of demons upon a 
mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells 
like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. 
Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain 
chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The 
seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness, are 
swallowed up by the angry waters. Babylon the Great hath 
come in remembrance before God, "to give unto her the 
cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." 1 Great 
hailstones, every one ''about the weight of a talent," are 
doing their work of destruction. The proudest cities of 
the earth are laid low. The lordly palaces, upon which 
the world's great men have lavished their wealth in order 
to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their 
eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God's people, who 
have been held in bondage for their faith, are set free. 

Graves are opened, and " many of them that sleep in the 
dust of the earth " " awake, some to everlasting life, and 
some to shame and everlasting contempt." 2 All who have 
died in the faith of the third angel's message come forth 
from the tomb glorified, to hear God's covenant of peace 
with those who have kept his law. " They also which pierced 
Him," 3 those that mocked and derided Christ's dying agonies, 
and the most violent opposers of his truth and his people, 
are raised to behold him in his glory, and to see the honor 
placed upon the loyal and obedient. 

Thick clouds still cover the sky; yet the sun now and 
then breaks through, appearing like the avenging eye of 
Jehovah. Fierce lightnings leap from the heavens, envel- 
oping the earth in a sheet of flame. Above the terrific roar 
of thunder, voices, mysterious and awful, declare the doom 
of the wicked. The words spoken are not comprehended 

1 Rev. 16: 19, 21. 2 Ban. 12 : 2. 3 Rev. 1:7. 



638 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



by all; but they are distinctly understood by the false 
teachers. Those who a little before were so reckless, so 
boastful and defiant, so exultant in their cruelty to God's 
commandment-keeping people, are now overwhelmed with 
consternation, and shuddering in fear. Their wails are 
heard above the sound of the elements. Demons acknowl- 
edge the divinity of Christ, and tremble before his power, 
while men are supplicating for mercy, and groveling in 
abject terror. 

Said the prophets of old as they beheld in holy vision the 
day of God: "Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; 
it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." l " Enter 
into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, 
and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man 
shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be 
bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that 
day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every 
one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is 
lifted up ; and he shall be brought low." " In that day 
a man shall cast the idols of his silver, and the idols of his 
gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to 
the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, 
and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, 
and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake 
terribly the earth." 2 

Through a rift in the clouds, there beams a star whose 
brilliancy is increased fourfold in contrast with the dark- 
ness. It speaks hope and joy to the faithful, but severity 
and wrath to the transgressors of God's law. Those who 
have sacrificed all for Christ are now secure, hidden as in 
the secret of the Lord's pavilion. They have been tested, 
and before the world and the despisers of truth they have 
evinced their fidelity to Him who died for them. A mar- 
velous change has come over those who have held fast their 
integrity in the very face of death. They have been sud- 

1 Isa. 13:6. 2 Isa. 2 : 10-12, 20, 21 (margin). 



GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 639 

denly delivered from the dark and terrible tyranny of men 
transformed to demons. Their faces, so lately pale, anxious, 
and haggard, are now aglow with wonder, faith, and love. 
Their voices rise in triumphant song: "God is our refuge 
and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will 
not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the 
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the 
waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains 
shake with the swelling thereof." l 

While these words of holy trust ascend to God, the clouds 
sweep back, and the starry heavens are seen, unspeakabty 
glorious in contrast with the black and angry firmament 
on either side. The glory of the celestial city streams from 
the gates ajar. Then there appears against the sky a hand 
holding two tables of stone folded together. Says the prophet, 
"The heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is 
judge himself." 2 That holy law, God's righteousness, that 
amid thunder and flame was proclaimed from Sinai as the 
guide of life, is now revealed to men as the rule of judgment. 
The hand opens the tables, and there are seen the precepts 
of the decalogue, traced as with a pen of fire. The words 
are so plain that all can read them. Memory is aroused, the 
darkness of superstition and heresy is swept from every mind, 
and God's ten words, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, 
are presented to the view of all the inhabitants of the earth. 

It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those 
who have trampled upon God's holy requirements. The 
Lord gave them his law; they might have compared their 
characters with it, and learned their defects while there was 
yet opportunity for repentance and reform ; but in order to 
secure the favor of the world, they set aside its precepts 
and taught others to transgress. They have endeavored 
to compel God's people to profane his Sabbath. Now they 
are condemned by that law which they have despised. 
With awful distinctness they see that they are without ex- 

1 Pa. 46 : 1-3. 2 Ps. 50 : 6. 



640 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

cuse. They chose whom they would serve and worship. 
"Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous 
and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him 
that serveth him not." x 

The enemies of God's law, from the ministers down to the 
least among them, have a new conception of truth and duty. 
Too late they see that the Sabbath of the fourth command- 
ment is the seal of the living God. Too late they see the 
true nature of their spurious sabbath, and the sandy foun- 
dation upon which they have been building. They find 
that they have been fighting against God. Religious teach- 
ers have led souls to perdition while professing to guide them 
to the gates of Paradise. Not until the day of final accounts 
will it be known how great is the responsibility of men in 
holy office, and how terrible are the results of their unfaith- 
fulness. Only in eternity can we rightly estimate the loss 
of a single soul. Fearful will be the doom of him to whom 
God shall say, Depart, thou wicked servant. 

The voice of God is heard from Heaven, declaring the 
day and hour of Jesus' coming, and delivering the ever- 
lasting covenant to his people. Like peals of loudest thun- 
der, his words roll through the earth. The Israel of God 
stand listening, with their eyes fixed upward. Their coun- 
tenances are lighted up, with his glory, and shine as did the 
face of Moses when he came down from Sinai. The wicked 
cannot look upon them. And when the blessing is pro- 
nounced on those who have honored God by keeping his 
Sabbath holy, there is a mighty shout of victory. 

Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about 
half the size of a man's hand. It is the cloud which sur- 
rounds the Saviour, and which seems in the distance to be 
shrouded in darkness. The people of God know this to be 
the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze 
upon it as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and 
more glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory 

1 Mai. 3 : 18. 



GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 641 



like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the cove- 
nant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror. Not now 
a " man of sorrows," to drink the bitter cup of shame and 
woe, he comes, victor in Heaven and earth, to judge the 
living and the dead. " Faithful and True," " in righteous- 
ness he doth judge and make war." And "the armies in 
Heaven follow him." 1 With anthems of celestial melody 
the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend him on 
his way. The firmament seems filled with radiant forms, — 
"ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
sands." No human pen can portray the scene, nor mortal 
mind is adequate to conceive its splendor. " His glory cov- 
ered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And 
his brightness was as the light."' 2 As the living cloud 
comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. No 
crown of thorns now mars that sacred head, but a diadem 
of glory rests on his holy brow. His countenance outshines 
the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. "And he hath 
on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of 
kings, and Lord of lords." 3 

Before his presence, "all faces are turned into paleness;" 
upon the rejecters of God's mercy falls the terror of eternal 
despair. " The heart melteth, and the knees smite together," 
" and the faces of them all gather blackness." i The righteous 
cry with trembling, "Who shall be able to stand?" The 
angels' song is hushed, and there is a period of awful silence. 
Then the voice of Jesus is heard, saying, " My grace is suf- 
ficient for you." The faces of the righteous are lighted up, 
and joy fills every heart. And the angels strike a note 
higher, and sing again, as they draw still nearer to the earth. 

The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in 
flaming fire. The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, 
the earth trembles before him, and every mountain and 
island is moved out of its place. "Our God shall come, and 

1 Rev. 19:11, 14. *Hab. 3:3, 4. 3 Rev. 19:16. 

*Jer. 30:6; Nah. 2:10. 



642 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



shall not keep silence; a lire shall devour before him, and 
it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall 
call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he 
may judge his people."' 1 

" And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the 
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and 
every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the 
dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the 
mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face 
of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of 
the Lamb ; for the great day of his wrath is come ; and who 
shall be able to stand ? " 2 

The derisive jests have ceased. Lying lips are hushed 
into silence. The clash of arms, the tumult of battle, " with 
confused noise, and garments rolled in blood," 3 is stilled. 
Naught now is heard but the voice of prayer and the sound 
of weeping and lamentation. The cry bursts forth from 
lips so lately scoffing, " The great day of His wrath is come; 
and who shall be able to stand ? " The wicked pray to be 
buried beneath the rocks of the mountains, rather than meet 
the face of Him whom they have despised and rejected. 

That voice which penetrates the ear of the dead, they 
know. How often have its plaintive, tender tones called 
them to repentance. How often has it been heard in the 
touching entreaties of a friend, a brother, a Redeemer. To 
the rejecters of his grace, no other could be so full of con- 
demnation, so burdened with denunciation, as that voice 
which has so long pleaded, " Turn ye, turn ye from your 
evil ways; for why will ye die?" 4 Oh that it were to them 
the voice of a stranger! Says Jesus: " I have called, and ye 
refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man re- 
garded. But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and 
would none of my reproof." 5 That voice awakens memories 
which they would fain blot out, — warnings despised, invi- 
tations refused, privileges slighted. 

^Ps. 50:3,4. 2 Rev. 6:15-17. 3 Isa. 9 : 5. 

*Eze. 33:11. 5 Prov. 1 : 24, 25. 



GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 643 

There are those who mocked Christ in his humiliation 
With thrilling power come to their minds the Sufferer's 
words, when, adjured by the high priest, he solemnly de- 
clared, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting 
on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of 
heaven." 1 Now they behold him in his glory, and they 
are yet to see him sitting on the right hand of power. 

Those who derided his claim to be the Son of God are 
speechless now. There is the haughty Herod who jeered 
at his royal title, and bade the mocking soldiers crown him 
king. There are the very men who with impious hands 
placed upon his form the purple robe, upon his sacred brow 
the thorny crown, and in his unresisting hand the mimic 
scepter, and bowed before him in blasphemous mockery. 
The men who smote and spit upon the Prince of life, now 
turn from his piercing gaze, and seek to flee from the over- 
powering glory of his presence. Those who drove the nails 
through his hands and feet, the soldier who pierced his side, 
behold these marks with terror and remorse. 

With awful distinctness do priests and rulers recall the 
events of Calvary. With shuddering horror they remember 
how, wagging their heads in Satanic exultation, they ex- 
claimed, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he 
be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the 
cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him. 
deliver him now, if he will have him." 2 

Vividly they recall the Saviour's parable of the husband- 
men who refused to render to their lord the fruit of the 
vineyard, who abused his servants and* slew his son. They 
remember, too, the sentence which they themselves pro- 
nounced: The lord of the vineyard will miserably destroy 
those wdeked men. In the sin and punishment of those 
unfaithful men, the priests and elders see their own course 
and their own just doom. And now there rises a cry of 
mortal agony. Louder than the shout, "Crucify him! cru- 
cify him!" which rang through the streets of Jerusalem, 

A „ 1 Matt. 26 : 64. 2 Matt. 27 : 42, 43. 

45 



644 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

swells the awful, despairing wail, " He is the Son of God ! 
He is the true Messiah ! " They seek to flee from the pres- 
ence of the King of kings. In the deep caverns of the earth, 
rent asunder by the warring of the elements, they vainly 
attempt to hide. 

In the lives of all who reject truth, there are moments 
when conscience awakens, when memory presents the tort- 
uring recollection of a life of hypocrisy, and the soul is har- 
assed with vain regrets. But what are these compared with 
the remorse of that day when "fear cometh as desolation," 
when "destruction cometh as a whirlwind !" l Those who 
would have destroyed Christ and his faithful people, now 
witness the glory which rests upon them. In the midst of 
their terror they hear the voices of the saints in joyful strains 
exclaiming, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, 
and he will save us." 2 

Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and 
the roar of thunder, the voice of the Son of God calls forth 
the sleeping saints. He looks upon the graves of the right- 
eous, then raising his hands to heaven he cries, "Awake, 
awake, awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and arise ! " Through- 
out the length and breadth of the earth, the dead shall hear 
that voice; and they that hear shall live. And the whole 
earth shall ring with the tread of the exceeding great army 
of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. From the 
prison-house of death they come, clothed with immortal 
glory, crying, "O death, where is thy sting? grave, where 
is thy victory?" 3 And the living righteous and the risen 
saints unite their voices in a long, glad shout of victory. 

All come forth from their graves the same in stature as 
when they entered the tomb. Adam, who stands among 
the risen throng, is of lofty height and majestic form, in 
stature but little below the Son of God. He presents a 
marked contrast to the people of later generations; in this 
one respect is shown the great degeneracy of the race. But 

1 Prov. 1 : 27. 2 Isa. 25 : 9. 3 1 Cor. 15 : 55 ? 



GOD'S PEOPLE DELI VERED. 645 

all arise with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth. In 
the beginning, man was created in the likeness of Clod, not 
only in character, but in form and feature. Sin defaced and 
almost obliterated the divine image; but Christ came to 
restore that which had been lost. He will change onr vile 
bodies, and fashion them like unto his glorious body. The 
mortal, corruptible form, devoid of comeliness, once polluted 
with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful, and immortal. All 
blemishes and deformities are left in the grave. Restored 
to the tree of life in the long-lost Eden, the redeemed will 
"grow up" 1 to the full stature of the race in its primeval 
glory. The last lingering traces of the curse of sin will be 
removed, and Christ's faithful ones will appear "in the 
beauty of the Lord our God;" in mind and soul and body 
reflecting the perfect image of their Lord. Oh, wonderful 
redemption! long talked of, long hoped for, contemplated 
with eager anticipation, but never fully understood. 

The living righteous are changed "in a moment, in the 
twinkling of an eye." At the voice of God they were glo- 
rified; now they are made immortal, and with the risen 
saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Angels 
"gather together the elect from the four winds, from one 
end of heaven to the other." Little children are borne by 
holy angels to their mothers' arms. Friends long separated 
by death are united, nevermore to part, and with songs of 
gladness ascend together to the city of God. 

On each side of the cloudy chariot are wings, and beneath 
it are living wheels; and as the chariot rolls upward, the 
wheels cry, " Holy," and the wings, as they move, cry, 
"Holy," and the retinue of angels cry, "Holy, holy, holy, 
Lord God Almighty." And the redeemed shout " Alleluia! " 
as the chariot moves onward toward the New Jerusalem. 

Before entering the city of God, the Saviour bestows upon 
his followers the emblems of victory, and invests them with 
the insignia of their royal state. The glittering ranks are 

iMal. 4:2, 



646 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

drawn up, in the form of a hollow square, about their King, 
whose form rises in majesty high above saint and angel, 
whose countenance beams upon them fnll of benignant love. 
Throughout the unnumbered host of the redeemed, every 
glance is fixed upon him, every eye beholds His glory whose 
" visage was so marred more than any man, and his form 
more than the sons of men." Upon the heads of the over- 
comers, Jesus with his own right hand places the crown of 
glory. For each there is a crown, bearing his own "new 
name," 1 and the inscription, "Holiness to the Lord." In 
every hand are placed the victor's palm and the shining 
harp. Then, as the commanding angels strike the note, 
every hand sweeps the harp strings with skillful touch, 
awaking sweet music in rich, melodious strains. Rapture 
unutterable thrills every heart, and each voice is raised in 
grateful praise: "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us 
from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings 
and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and 
dominion forever and ever." 2 

Before the ransomed throng is the holy city. Jesus opens 
wide the pearly gates, and the nations that have kept the 
truth enter in. There they behold the Paradise of God, the 
home of Adam in his innocency. Then that voice, richer 
than any music that ever fell on mortal ear, is heard, say- 
ing, "Your conflict is ended." "Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world." 

Now is fulfilled the Saviour's prayer for his disciples, " I 
will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me 
where I am." "Faultless before the presence of His glory 
with exceeding joy," 3 Christ presents to the Father the pur- 
chase of his blood, declaring, " Here am I, and the children 
whom thou hast given me." " Those that thou gavest me 
I have kept." Oh, the wonders of redeeming love! the 
rapture of that hour when the infinite Father, looking 

1 Rev. 2:17. 2 Rev . 1 : 5, 6. 3 Jude 24, 



GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. G4' 



upon the ransomed, shall behold his image, sin's discoid 
banished, its blight. removed, and the human once more in 
harmony with the divine! 

With unutterable love, Jesus welcomes his faithful ones 
to the "joy of their Lord." The Saviour's joy is in seeing, 
in the kingdom of glory, the souls that have been saved by 
his agony and humiliation. And the redeemed will be 
sharers in this joy, as they behold, among the blessed, those 
who have been won to Christ through their prayers, their 
labors, and loving sacrifice. As they gather about the great 
white throne, gladness unspeakable will fill their hearts, 
when they behold those whom they have won for Christ, and 
see that one has gained others, and these still others, all 
brought into the haven of rest, there to lay their crowns at 
Jesus' feet, and praise him through the endless cycles of 
eternity. 

As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the city of God, 
there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration. 
The two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God is 
standing with outstretched arms to receive the father of our 
race, — the being whom he created, who sinned against his 
Maker, and for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are 
borne upon the Saviour's form. As Adam discerns the 
prints of the cruel nails, he does not fall upon the bosom 
of his Lord, but in humiliation casts himself at his feet, 
crying, " Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain ! " 
Tenderly the Saviour lifts him up, and bids him look once 
more upon the Eden home from which he has so long been 
exiled. 

After his expulsion from Eden, Adam's life on earth was 
filled with sorrow. Every dying leaf, every victim of sac- 
rifice, every blight upon the fair face of nature, every stain 
upon man's purity, was a fresh reminder of his sin. Ter- 
rible was the agony of remorse as he beheld iniquity abound- 
ing, and, in answer to his warnings, met the reproaches cast 
upon himself as the cause of sin. With patient humility 



648 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

he bore, for nearly a thousand years, the penalty of trans- 
gression. Faithfully did he repent of his sin, and trust in 
the merits of the promised Saviour, and he died in the hope 
of a resurrection. The Son of God redeemed man's failure 
and fall, and now, through the work of the atonement, Adam 
is re-instated in his first dominion. 

Transported with joy, he beholds the trees that were once 
his delight, — the very trees whose fruit he himself had gath- 
ered in the days of his innocence and joy. He sees the vines 
that his own hands have trained, the very flowers that he 
once loved to care for. His mind grasps the reality of the 
scene; he comprehends that this is indeed EJen restored, 
more lovely now than when he was banished from it. The 
Saviour leads him to the tree of life, and plucks the glorious 
fruit, and bids him eat. He looks about him, and beholds 
a multitude of his family redeemed, standing in the Paradise 
of God. Then he casts his glittering crown at the feet of 
Jesus, and, falling upon his breast, embraces the Redeemer. 
He touches the golden harp, and the vaults of Heaven echo 
the triumphant song, " Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain, and lives again ! " The family of Adam take 
up the strain, and cast their crowns at the Saviour's feet as 
they bow before him in adoration. 

This reunion is witnessed by the angels who wept at the 
fall of Adam, and rejoiced when Jesus, after his resurrection, 
ascended to Heaven, having opened the grave for all who 
should believe on his name. Now they behold the work 
of redemption accomplished, and they unite their voices in 
the song of praise. 

Upon the crystal sea before the throne, that sea of glass 
as it were mingled with fire, — so resplendent is it with the 
glory of God, — are gathered the company that have "gotten 
the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his 
mark, and over the number of his name." x With the Lamb 
upon Mount Zion, "having the harps of God," they stand, 

'-Rev. 15:2. 



GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 649 

the hundred and forty and four thousand that were re- 
doomed from among men; and there is heard, as the sound 
of many waters, and as the sound of a great thunder, "the 
voice of harpers harping with their harps." 1 And they sing 
" a new song " before the throne, a song which no man can 
learn save the hundred and forty and four thousand. It 
is the song of Moses and the Lamb, — a song of deliverance. 
None but the hundred and forty-four thousand can learn 
that song; for it is the song of their experience, — an ex- 
perience such as no other company have ever had. "These 
are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." 
These, having been translated from the earth, from among 
the living, are counted as "the first-fruits unto God and to 
the Lamb." "These are they which came out of great 
tribulation;" 1 they have passed through the time of trouble 
such as never was since there was a nation ; they have en- 
dured the anguish of the time of Jacob's trouble; they have 
stood without an intercessor through the final outpouring 
of God's judgments. But they have been delivered, for they 
have "washed their robes, and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb." "In their mouth was found no guile; 
for they are without fault" before God. "Therefore are they 
before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in 
his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell 
among them." 1 They have seen the earth wasted with 
famine and pestilence, the sun having power to scorch men 
with great heat, and they themselves have endured suffering, 
hunger, and thirst. But "they shall hunger no more; nei- 
ther thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, 
nor any heat; for the Lamb which is in the mi'dst of the 
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living 
fountains of waters ; and God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes." 1 

In all ages the Saviour's chosen have been educated and 
disciplined in the school of trial. They walked in jaarrow 

{ B.ev. 14 : 1-5; 15 : 3; 7 : 14-17. 



650 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

paths on earth; they were purified in the furnace of afflic- 
tion. For Jesus' sake they endured opposition, hatred, cal- 
umny. They followed him through conflicts sore; they 
endured self-denial and experienced bitter disappointments. 
By their own painful experience they learned the evil of 
sin, its power, its guilt, its woe ; and they look upon it with 
abhorrence. A sense of the infinite sacrifice made for its 
cure, humbles them in their own sight, and fills their hearts 
with gratitude and praise which those who have never fallen 
cannot appreciate. They love much, because they have been 
forgiven much. Having been partakers of Christ's suffer- 
ings, they are fitted to be partakers with him of his glory. 

The heirs of God have come from garrets, from hovels, 
from dungeons, from scaffolds, from mountains, from deserts, 
from the caves of the earth, from the caverns of the sea. 
On earth they w T ere " destitute, afflicted, tormented." Mill- 
ions went down to the grave loaded with infamy, because 
they steadfastly refused to yield to the deceptive claims of 
Satan. By human tribunals they were adjudged the vilest 
of criminals. But now "God is judge himself." 1 Now the 
decisions of earth are reversed. " The rebuke of his people 
shall he take away." 2 " They shall call them, The holy peo- 
ple, The redeemed of the Lord." He hath appointed " to 
give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourn- 
ing, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 3 
They are no longer feeble, afflicted, scattered, and oppressed. 
Henceforth they are to be ever with the Lord. They stand 
before the throne clad in richer robes than the most honored 
of the earth have ever worn. They are crowned with dia- 
dems more glorious than were ever placed upon the brow of 
earthly monarchs. The days of pain and weeping are for- 
ever ended. The King of glory has wiped the tears from 
all faces ; every cause of grief has been removed. Amid 
the waving of palm-branches they pour forth a song of 
praise, clear, sweet, and harmonious ; every voice takes up 

1 Ps. 50 : 6. 2 Isa. 25 : 8. 3 Isa. 62 : 12; 61 : 3. 



GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 651 



the strain, until the anthem swells through the vaults of 
Heaven, ''Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb." And all the inhabitants of 
Heaven respond in the ascription, "Amen: Blessing, and 
glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and pow r er, 
and might, be unto our God forever and ever." 1 

In this life we can only begin to understand the wonder- 
ful theme of redemption. With our finite comprehension 
we may consider most earnestly the shame and the glory, 
the life and the death, the justice and the mercy, that meet 
in the cross ; yet with the utmost stretch of our mental pow- 
ers we fail to grasp its full significance. The length and 
the breadth, the depth and the height of redeeming love 
are but dimly comprehended. The plan of redemption will 
not be fully understood, even when the ransomed see as they 
are seen and know as they are known; but through the 
eternal ages, new truth will continually unfold to the won- 
dering and delighted mind. Though the griefs and pains 
and temptations of earth are ended, and the cause removed, 
the people of God will ever have a distinct, intelligent knowl- 
edge of what their salvation has cost. 

The cross of Christ will be the science and the song of 
the redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified they 
will behold Christ crucified. Never will it be forgotten that 
He whose power created and upheld the unnumbered worlds 
through the vast realms of space, the Beloved of God, the 
Majesty of Heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph 
delighted to adore, — humbled himself to uplift fallen man ; 
that he bore the guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of 
his Father's face, till the woes of a lost world broke his heart, 
and crushed out his life on Calvary's cross. That the Maker 
of all worlds, the Arbiter of all destinies, should lay aside 
his glory, and humiliate himself from love to man, will 
ever excite the wonder and adoration of the universe. As 
the nations of the saved look upon their Redeemer, and be- 

1 Rev. 7 : 10, 12. 



652 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



hold the eternal glory of the Father shining in his counte- 
nance; as they behold his throne, which is from everlasting 
to everlasting, and know that his kingdom is to have no end, 
they break forth in rapturous song, " Worthy, worthy is the 
Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his 
own most precious blood ! " 

The mystery of the cross explains all other mysteries. In 
the light that streams from Calvary, the attributes of God 
which had filled us with fear and awe appear beautiful and 
attractive. Mercy, tenderness, and parental love are seen to 
blend with holiness, justice, and power. While we behold 
the majesty of his throne, high and lifted up, we see his 
character in its gracious manifestations, and comprehend, 
as never before, the significance of that endearing title, our 
Father. 

It will be seen that He who is infinite in wisdom could 
devise no plan for our salvation except the sacrifice of his 
Son. The compensation for this sacrifice is the joy of peo- 
pling the earth with ransomed beings, holy, happy, and 
immortal. The result of the Saviour's conflict with the 
powers of darkness is joy to the redeemed, redounding to 
the glory of God, throughout eternity. And such is the 
value of the soul that the Father is satisfied with the price 
paid; and Christ himself, beholding the fruits of his great 
sacrifice, is satisfied. 




DESOLATION" OF THE EARTH. 



CHAPTER XLI 



DESOLATION OF THE EARTH. 

"Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath 
remembered her iniquities." "In the cup which she hath 
filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified her- 
self, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give 
her; for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no 
widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues 
come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and 
she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord 
God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who 
have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, 
shall bewail her, and lament for her, . . . saying, Alas, 
alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one 
hour is thy judgment come." x 

"The merchants of the earth," that have "waxed rich 
through the abundance of her delicacies," "shall stand afar 
off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and 
saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine 
linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and 
precious stones, and pearls ! For in one hour so great riches 
is come to naught," * 

Such are the judgments that fall upon Babylon in the 
day of the visitation of God's wrath. She has filled up the 
measure of her iniquity; her time has come; she is ripe for 
destruction. 

When the voice of God turns the captivity of his people, 
there is a terrible awakening of those who have lost all in 
the great conflict of life. AVhile probation continued, they 
were blinded by Satan's deceptions, and they justified their 

^Rev. 18: 5-10, 3, 15-17. 

(653) 



654 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

course of sin. The rich prided themselves upon their supe- 
riority to those who were less favored; but they had ob- 
tained their riches by violation of the law of God. They 
had neglected to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to 
deal justly, and to love mercy. They had sought to exalt 
themselves, and to obtain the homage of their fellow-creat- 
ures. Now they are stripped of all that made them great, 
and are left destitute and defenseless. They look with terror 
upon the destruction of the idols which they preferred be- 
fore their Maker. They have sold their souls for earthly 
riches and enjoyments, and have not sought to become rich 
toward God. The result is, their lives are a failure ; their 
pleasures are now turned to gall, their treasures to corrup- 
tion. The gain of a life-time is swept away in a moment. 
The rich bemoan the destruction of their grand houses, the 
scattering of their gold and silver. But their lamentations 
are silenced by the fear that they themselves are to perish 
with their idols. 

The wicked are filled with regret, not because of their 
sinful neglect of God and their fellow-men, but because God 
has conquered. They lament that the result is what it is; 
but they do not repent of their wickedness. They would 
leave no means untried to conquer if they could. 

The world see the very class whom they have mocked 
and derided, and desired to exterminate, pass unharmed 
through pestilence, tempest, and earthquake. He who is 
to the transgressors of his law a devouring fire, is to his 
people a safe pavilion. 

The minister who has sacrificed truth to gain the favor 
of men, now discerns the character and influence of his 
teachings. It is apparent that an omniscient eye was fol- 
lowing him as he stood in the desk, as he walked the streets, 
as he mingled with men in the various scenes of life. Every 
emotion of the soul, every line written, every word uttered, 
every act that led men to rest in a refuge of falsehood, has 
been scattering seed ; and now, in the wretched, lost souls 
around him, he beholds the harvest. 



DESOLATION OF THE EM nil. 655 

Saitli the Lord: "They have healed the hurt of the 
daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when 
there is no peace." "With lies ye have made the heart 
of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and 
strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not 
return from his wicked way, by promising him life." l 

"Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the 
sheep of my pasture ! . . . Behold, I will visit upon you 
the evil of your doings." "Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; 
and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock; 
for your days for slaughter and your dispersions are accom- 
plished; . . . and the shepherds shall have no way to 
flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape." 2 

Ministers and people see that they have not sustained the 
right relation to God. They see that they have rebelled 
against the Author of all just and righteous law. The set- 
ting aside of the divine precepts gave rise to thousands of 
springs of evil, discord, hatred, iniquity, until the earth 
became one vast field of strife, one sink of corruption. This 
is the view that now appears to those who rejected truth 
and chose to cherish error. No language can express the 
longing which the disobedient and disloyal feel for that 
which they have lost forever, — eternal life. Men whom the 
world has worshiped for their talents and eloquence now 
see these things in their true light. They realize what they 
have forfeited by transgression, and they fall at the feet of 
those whose fidelity they have despised and derided, and 
confess that God has loved them. 

The people see that they have been deluded. They accuse 
one another of having led them to destruction ; but all unite 
in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers. 
Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they 
have led their hearers to make void the law of God and to 
persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in their 
despair, these teachers confess before the world their work 
of deception. The multitudes are filled with fury. " We 

1 Jer. 8:11; Eze. 13 : 22. 2 Jer. 23 : 1, 2; 25 : 34, 35 (margin). 



656 THE GREA T CONTR VERSY. 

are lost ! " they cry, " and you are the cause of our ruin ; " and 
they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once 
admired them most, will pronounce the most dreadful curses 
upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with 
laurels will be raised for their destruction. The swords which 
were to slay God's people are now employed to destroy their 
enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed. 

"A noise shall come even to the. ends of the earth; for the 
Lord hath a controversy with the nations : he will plead with 
all flesh ; he will give them that are wicked to the sword." ! 
For six thousand years the great controversy has been in 
progress; the Son of God and his heavenly messengers have 
been in conflict with the power of the evil one, to warn, en- 
lighten, and save the children of men. Now all have made 
their decision;", the wicked have fully united with Satan in 
his warfare against God. The time has come for God to 
vindicate the authority of his downtrodden law. Now the 
controversy is not alone with Satan, but with men. "The 
Lord hath a controversy with the nations;" "he will give 
them that are wicked to the sword." 

The mark of deliverance has been set upon those " that 
sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done." 
Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel's 
vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons, to whom 
the command is given: "Slay utterly old and young, both 
maids, and little children, and women; but come not near 
any man upon whom is the mark ; and begin at my sanct- 
uary." * Says the prophet, " They began at the ancient men 
which were before the house." 2 The work of destruction 
begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual 
guardians of the people. The false watchmen are the first 
to fall. There are none to pity or to spare. Men, women, 
maidens, and little children perish together. 

" The Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhab- 
itants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall 
disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. 



" 3 



Jer. 25:31. 2 Eze. 9:1-6. 3 Isa. 26:21. 



DESOLATION OF THE EARTH. 657 

"And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite 
all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: Their 
flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, 
and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their 
tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall 
come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord 
shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one 
on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up 
against the hand of his neighbor." 1 In the mad strife of 
their own fierce passions, and by the awful outpouring of 
God's unmingled wrath, fall the wicked inhabitants of the 
earth, — priests, rulers, and people, rich and poor, high and 
low. " And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from 
one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth ; 
they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried." 2 

At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the 
face of the whole earth, — consumed with the spirit of his 
mouth, and destroyed b}^ the brightness of his glory. Christ 
takes his people to the city of God, and the earth is emptied 
of its inhabitants. "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth 
empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, 
and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." "The land 
shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled ; for the Lord 
hath spoken this word." "Because they have transgressed 
the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting 
covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and 
they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhab- 
itants of the earth are burned." 3 

The whole earth appears like a desolate wilderness. The 
ruins of cities and villages destroyed by the earthquake, 
uprooted trees, ragged rocks thrown out by the sea or torn 
out of the earth itself, are scattered over its surface, while 
vast caverns mark the spot where the mountains have been 
rent from their foundations. 

Now the event takes place, foreshadowed in the last solemn 

1 Zech. 14 : 12, 13. 2 Jer. 25 : 33. 3 Isa. 24 : 1, 3, 5, 6. 
46 



658 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

service of the day of atonement. When the ministration 
in the holy of holies had been completed, and the sins of 
Israel had been removed from the sanctuary by virtue of 
the blood of the sin-offering, then the scape-goat was pre- 
sented alive before the Lord; and in presence of the con- 
gregation the High priest confessed over him "all the in- 
iquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions 
in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat." x 
In like manner, when the work of atonement in the heav- 
enly sanctuary has been completed, then in the presence of 
God and heavenly angels, and the host of the redeemed, the 
sins of God's people will be placed upon Satan; he will be 
declared guilty of all the evil which he has caused them to 
commit. And as the scape-goat was sent away into a land 
not inhabited, so. Satan will be banished to the desolate earth, 
an uninhabited and dreary wilderness. 

The Revelator foretells the banishment of Satan, and the 
condition of chaos and desolation to which the earth is to 
be reduced; and he declares that this condition will exist 
for a thousand years. After presenting the scenes of the 
Lord's second coming and the destruction of the wicked, 
the prophecy continues: "I saw an angel come down from 
Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great 
chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old 
serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a 
thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and 
shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should de- 
ceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should 
be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season." 2 

That the expression, " bottomless pit," represents the earth 
in a state of confusion and darkness, is evident from other 
scriptures. Concerning the condition of the earth "in the 
beginning," the Bible record says that it "was without form, 
and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." 3 

3 Gen. 1 :2; the word here translated "deep" is the same that in Rev. 
20 : 1-3 is rendered " bottomless pit." 

l Lev. 16:21. 2 Rev. 20:1-3. 



DESOLATION OF THE EARTH. 659 

Prophecy toadies that it will be brought back, partially, at 
least, to this condition. Looking forward to the great day 
of God, the prophet Jeremiah declares: "I beheld the earth, 
and, lo, it was without form, and void ; and the heavens, and 
they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they 
trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, 
lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were 
fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, 
and all the cities thereof were broken down.'* 1 

Here is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for 
a thousand years. Limited to the earth, he will not have 
access to other worlds, to tempt and annoy those who have 
never fallen. It is in this sense that he is bound; there are 
none remaining, upon whom he can exercise his power. 
He is wholly cut off from the work of deception and ruin 
wdiich for so many centuries has been his sole delight, 

The prophet Isaiah, looking forward to the time of Satan's 
overthrow, exclaims: "How art thou fallen from Heaven, 
Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cast down to 
the ground, which didst weaken the nations." " Thou hast 
said in thine heart, I Avill ascend into Heaven, I will exalt 
my throne above the stars of God." " I will be like the Most 
High. Yet thou shalt be brought clown to hell, to the sides 
of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon 
thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made 
the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made 
the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; 
that opened not the house of his prisoners? " 2 

For six thousand years, Satan's work of rebellion has 
"made the earth to tremble." He has "made the world as 
a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof." And "he 
opened not the house of his prisoners." For six thousand 
years his prison-house has received God's people, and he 
would have held them captive forever, but Christ has broken 
his bonds, and set the prisoners free. 

Even the wicked are now placed beyond the power of 

1 Jer. 4 : 23-27." a Isa. 14 : 12-17. 



660 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



Satan; and alone with his evil angels he remains to realize 
the effect of the curse which sin has brought. "The kings 
of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in 
his own house [the grave]. But thou art cast out of thy 
grave like an abominable branch. . . . Thou shalt not 
be joined w T ith them in burial, because thou hast destroyed 
thy land, and slain thy people." l 

For a thousand years, Satan will wander to and fro in the 
desolate earth, to behold the results of his rebellion against 
the law of God. During this time his sufferings are intense. 
Since his fall, his life of unceasing activity has banished re- 
flection ; but he is now deprived of his power, and left to 
contemplate the part which he has acted since first he re- 
belled against the government of Heaven, and to look for- 
ward with trembling and terror to the dreadful future, when 
he must suffer for all the evil that he has done, and be pun- 
ished for the sins that he has caused to be committed. 

To God's people, the captivity of Satan w T ill bring gladness 
and rejoicing. Says the prophet: "It shall come to pass in 
the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, 
and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou 
wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb 
against the king of Babylon [here representing Satan], and 
say, How hath the oppressor ceased ! . . . The Lord hath 
broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; that 
smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that 
ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none 
restrained." 2 

During the thousand years between the first and the 
second resurrection, the Judgment of the wicked takes place. 
The apostle Paul points to this Judgment as an event that 
follows the second advent. "Judge nothing before the time, 
until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden 
things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of 
the hearts." 3 Daniel declares that when the Ancient of days 

1 Isa. 14 : 18-20. 2 Tsa. 14 : 3-6, Revised Version. 3 1 Cor. 4 : 5. 



DESOLATION OF THE EARTH. 661 



came, "Judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." l 
At this time the righteous reign as kings and priests unto 
God. John in. the Revelation says: "I saw thrones, and 
they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." 
" They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign 
with him a thousand years." 2 It is at this time that, as 
foretold by Paul, "the saints shall judge the world." 2 In 
union with Christ they judge the wicked, comparing their 
acts with the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every 
case according to the deeds done in the body. Then the 
portion which the wicked must suffer is meted out, accord- 
ing to their works; and it is recorded against their names 
in the book of death. 

Satan also and evil angels are judged by Christ and his 
people. Says Paul, "Know ye not that we shall judge 
angels?" 2 And Jude declares that " the angels which kept 
not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath 
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the 
Judgment of the great day." 3 

At the close of the thousand years the second resurrec- 
tion will take place. Then the wicked will be raised from 
the dead, and appear before God for the execution of "the 
judgment written." Thus the Revelator, after describing 
the resurrection of the righteous, says, "The rest of the dead 
lived not again until the thousand years were finished." 4 
And Isaiah declares, concerning the wicked, " They shall be 
gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and 
shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they 
be visited." * 

i Dan. 7 : 22. 2 Rev. 20 : 4, 6; 1 Cor. 6 : 2, 3. 3 Jude 6. 

*Rev. 20 : 5; Isa. C4:22. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 

At the close of the thousand years, Christ again returns 
to the earth. He is accompanied by the host of the re- 
deemed, and attended by a retinue of angels. As he de- 
scends in terrific majesty, he bids the wicked dead arise to 
receive their doom. They come forth, a mighty host, num- 
berless as the sands of the sea. What a contrast to those 
who were raised at the first resurrection! The righteous 
were clothed with immortal youth and beauty. The wicked 
bear the traces of disease and death. 

Every eye in that vast multitude is turned to behold the 
glory of the Son of God. With one voice the wicked hosts 
exclaim, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the 
Lord!" It is not love to Jesus that inspires this utterance. 
The force of truth urges the words from unwilling lips. As 
the wicked went into their graves, so they come forth, with 
the same enmity to Christ, and the same spirit of rebellion. 
They are to have no new probation, in which to remedy the 
defects of their past lives. Nothing would be gained by this. 
A life-time of transgression has not softened their hearts. A 
second probation, were it given them, would be occupied as 
was the first, in evading the requirements of God and ex- 
citing rebellion against him. 

Christ descends upon the Mount of Olives, whence, after 
his resurrection, he ascended, and where angels repeated the 
promise of his return. Says the prophet, " The Lord my 
God shall come, and all the saints with thee." " And his 
feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which 
is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives 

(662) 



THE CONTRO VERSY ENDED. 663 

shall cleave in the midst thereof, . . . and there shall 
be a very great valley." "And the Lord shall be King over 
all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and his 
name one." 1 As the New Jerusalem, in its dazzling splen- 
dor, comes down out of Heaven, it rests upon the place puri- 
fied and made ready to receive it, and Christ with his people 
and the angels, enters the holy city. 

Now Satan prepares for a last mighty struggle for the 
supremacy. While deprived of his power, and cut off from 
his work of deception, the prince of evil was miserable and 
dejected; but as the wicked dead are raised, and he sees the 
vast multitudes upon his side, his hopes revive, and he 
determines not to yield the great controversy. He will 
marshal all the armies of the lost under his banner, and 
through them endeavor to execute his plans. The wicked 
are Satan's captives. In rejecting Christ they have accepted 
the rule of the rebel leader. They are ready to receive his 
suggestions and to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early 
cunning, he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan. He 
claims to be the Prince who is the rightful owner of the 
world, and whose inheritance has been unlawfully wrested 
from him. He represents himself to his deluded subjects 
as a redeemer, assuring them that his power has brought 
them forth from their graves, and that he is about to rescue 
them from the most cruel tyranny. The presence of Christ 
having been removed, Satan works wonders to support his 
claims. He makes the weak strong, and inspires all with 
his own spirit and energy. He proposes to lead them 
against the camp of the saints, and to take possession of 
the city of God. With, fiendish exultation he points to the 
unnumbered millions who have been raised from the dead, 
and declares that as their leader he is well able to over- 
throw the city, and regain his throne and his kingdom. 

In that vast throng are multitudes of the long-lived race 
that existed before the flood ; men of lofty stature and giant 
intellect, who, yielding to the control of fallen angels, de- 

1 Zech. 14 : 5, 4, 9. 



664 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 



voted all their skill and knowledge to the exaltation of 
themselves; men whose wonderful works of art led the 
world to idolize their genius, but whose cruelty and evil 
inventions, defiling the earth and defacing the image of 
God, caused him to blot them from the face of his creation. 
There are kings and generals who conquered nations, val- 
iant men who never lost a battle, proud, ambitious warriors 
whose approach made kingdoms tremble. In. death these 
experienced no change. As they come up from the grave, 
they resume the current of their thoughts just where it 
ceased. They are actuated by the same desire to conquer 
that ruled them wdien they fell. 

Satan consults with his angels, and then with these 
kings and conquerors and mighty men. They look upon 
the strength and, numbers on their side, and declare that 
the army within the city is small in comparison with theirs, 
and that it can be overcome. They lay their plans to take 
possession of the riches and glory of the New Jerusalem. 
All immediately begin to prepare for battle. Skillful arti- 
sans construct implements of war. Military leaders, famed 
for their success, marshal the throngs of warlike men into 
companies and divisions. 

At last the order to advance is given, and the countless 
host moves on, — an army such as was never summoned by 
earthly conquerors, such as the combined forces of all ages 
since war began on earth could never equal. Satan, the 
mightiest of warriors, leads the van, and his angels unite 
their forces for this final struggle. Kings and warriors are 
in his train, and the multitudes follow in vast companies, 
each under its appointed leader. With military precision, 
the serried ranks advance over the earth's broken and un- 
even surface to the city of God. By command of tfesus, the 
gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies of 
Satan surround the city, and make ready for the onset. 

Now Christ again appears to the view of his enemies. 
Far above the city, upon a foundation of burnished gold, is 
a throne, high and lifted up. Upon this throne sits the Son 



THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 665 

of God, and around him are the subjects of his kingdom. 
The power and majesty of Christ no language can describe, 
no pen portray. The glory of the Eternal Father is en- 
shrouding his Son. The brightness of his presence fills the 
city of God, and flows out beyond the gates, flooding the 
whole earth with its radiance. 

Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in the 
cause of Satan, but who, plucked as brands from the burn- 
ing, have followed their Saviour with deep,. intense devotion. 
Next are those who perfected Christian characters in the 
midst of falsehood and infidelity, those who honored the 
law of God when the Christian world declared it void, and 
the millions, of all ages, who were martyred for their faith. 
And beyond is the "great multitude, which no man could 
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
tongues," "before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed 
with white robes, and palms in their hands." l Their war- 
fare is ended, their victory won. They have run the race 
and reached the prize. The palm branch in their hands is a 
symbol of their triumph, the white robe an emblem of the 
spotless righteousness of Christ which now is theirs. 

The redeemed raise a song of praise that echoes and re- 
echoes through the vaults of heaven, " Salvation to our God 
which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." And 
angel and seraph unite their voices in adoration. As the 
redeemed have beheld the power and malignity of Satan, 
they have seen, as never before, that no power but that of 
Christ could have made them conquerors. In all that shin- 
ing throng there are none to ascribe salvation to themselves, 
as if they had prevailed by their own power and goodness. 
Nothing is said of what they have done or suffered ; but the 
burden of every song, the key-note of every anthem, is, Sal- 
vation to our God, and unto the Lamb. 

In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and 
Heaven the final coronation of the Son of God takes place. 
And now, invested with supreme majesty and power, the 

1 Rev. 7 : 9. 



666 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

King of kings pronounces sentence upon the rebels against 
his government, and executes justice upon those who have 
transgressed his law and oppressed his people. Says the 
prophet of God: "I saw a great white throne, and Him that 
sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled 
away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw 
the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books 
were opened; and another book was opened, which is the 
book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things 
which were written in the books, according to their works." 1 

As soon as the books of record are opened, and the eye of 
Jesus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin 
which they have ever committed. They see just where 
their feet diverged from the path of purity and holiness, just 
how far pride and rebellion have carried them in the viola- 
tion of the law of God. The seductive temptations which 
they encouraged by indulgence in sin, the blessings per- 
verted, the messengers of God despised, the warnings re- 
jected, the waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn, 
unrepentant heart, — all appear as if written in letters of fire. 

Above the throne is revealed the cross; and like a pano- 
ramic view appear the scenes of Adam's temptation and 
fall, and the successive steps in the great plan of redemp- 
tion. The Saviour's lowly birth ; his early life of simplicity 
and obedience; his baptism in Jordan; the fast and temp- 
tation in the wilderness; his public ministry, unfolding to 
men Heaven's most precious blessings; the days crowded 
with deeds of love and mercy, the nights of prayer and 
watching in the solitude of the mountains; the plottings of 
envy, hate, and malice which repaid his benefits; the awful, 
mysterious agony in Gethsemane, beneath the crushing 
weight of the sins of the whole world ; his betrayal into the 
hands of the murderous mob; the fearful events of that 
night of horror, — the unresisting prisoner, forsaken by his 
best-loved disciples, rudely hurried through the streets of 
Jerusalem; the Son of God exultingly displayed before 

^ev. L0-:11, 12. 



THE CONTROVERSY EX I) El). 6G7 

Annas, arraigned in the high priest's palace, in the judg- 
ment hall of Pilate, before the cowardly and cruel Herod, 
mocked, insulted, tortured, and condemned to die,— all are 
vividly portrayed. 

And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the 
final scenes, — the patient Sufferer treading the path to Cal- 
vary; the Prince of Heaven hanging upon the cross; the 
haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding his expiring 
agony; the supernatural darkness; the heaving earth, the 
rent rocks, the open graves, marking the moment when the 
world's Redeemer yielded up his life. 

The awful spectacle appears just as it w T as. Satan, his 
angels, and his subjects have no power to turn from the 
picture of their own work, Each actor recalls the part 
which he performed. Herod, who slew the innocent chil- 
dren of Bethlehem that he might destroy the King of Israel; 
the base Herodias, upon whose guilty soul rests the blood of 
John the Baptist; the weak, time-serving Pilate; the mock- 
ing soldiers; the priests and rulers and the maddened throng 
who cried, "His blood be on us, and our children!" — all 
behold the enormity of their guilt. They vainly seek to 
hide from the divine majesty of His countenance, outshining 
the glory of the sun, while the redeemed cast their crowns 
at the Saviour's feet, exclaiming, "He died for me!" 

Amid the ransomed throng are the apostles of Christ, the 
heroic Paul, the ardent Peter, the loved and loving John, 
and their true-hearted brethren, and with them the vast 
host of martyrs; while outside the walls, with every vile 
and abominable thing, are those by whom they were per- 
secuted, imprisoned, and slain. There is Nero, that monster 
of cruelty and vice, beholding the joy and exaltation of those 
whom he once tortured, and in whose extremest anguish he 
found Satanic delight. His mother is there to witness the 
result of her own work; to see how the evil stamp of char- 
acter transmitted to her son, the passions encouraged and 
developed by her influence and example, have borne fruit 
in crimes that caused the world to shudder. 



668 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

There are papist priests and prelates, who claimed to be 
Christ's ambassadors, yet employed the rack, the dungeon, 
and the stake to control the consciences of his people. There 
are the proud pontiffs who exalted themselves above God, 
and presumed to change the law of the Most High. Those 
pretended fathers of the church have an account to render 
to God from which they would fain be excused. Too late 
they are made to see that the Omniscient One is jealous of 
his law, and that he will in nowise clear the guilty. They 
learn now that Christ identifies his interest with that of his 
suffering people; and they feel the force of his own words, 
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 1 

The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar of 
God, on the charge of high treason against the government 
of Heaven. They have none to plead their cause ; they are 
without excuse; and the sentence of eternal death is pro- 
nounced against them. 

It is now evident to all that the wages of sin is not noble 
independence and eternal life, but slavery, ruin, and death. 
The wicked see what they have forfeited by their life of 
rebellion. The far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory was despised when offered them; but how desirable 
it now appears. "All this," cries the lost soul, "I might 
have had ; but I chose to put these things far from me. 
Oh, strange infatuation! I have exchanged peace, happi- 
ness, and honor, for wretchedness, infamy, and despair." 
All see that their exclusion from Heaven is just. By their 
lives they have declared, " We will not have this Jesus to 
reign over us." 

As if entranced, the wicked have looked upon the coro- 
nation of the Son of God. They see in his hands the tables 
of the divine law, the statutes which they have despised and 
transgressed. They witness the outburst of wonder, rapture, 
and adoration from the saved; and as the wave of melody 
sweeps over the multitudes without the city, all with one 

1 Matt. 25 : 40. 



THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 6G9 

voice exclaim, "Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord 
God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of 
saints;" and falling prostrate, they worship the Prince of life. 

Satan seems paralyzed as lie beholds the glory and majesty 
of Christ, He who was once a covering cherub remembers 
whence he has fallen. A shining seraph, " son of the morn- 
ing; " how changed, how degraded ! From the council where 
once he was honored, he is forever excluded. He sees another 
now standing near to the Father, veiling his glory. He has 
seen the crown placed upon the head of Christ by an angel 
of lofty stature and majestic presence, and he knows that 
the exalted position of this angel might have been his. 

Memory recalls the home of his innocence and purity, 
the peace and content that were his until he indulged in 
murmuring against God, and envy of Christ. His accu- 
sations, his rebellion, his deceptions to gain the sympathy 
and support of the angels, his stubborn persistence in mak- 
ing no effort for self-recovery w T hen God would have granted 
him forgiveness, — all come vividly before him. He reviews 
his work among men and its results, — the enmity of man 
toward his fellow-man, the terrible destruction of life, the 
rise and fall of kingdoms, the overturning of thrones, the 
long succession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions. He 
recalls his constant efforts to oppose the work of Christ and 
to sink man lower and lower. He sees that his hellish plots 
have been powerless to destroy those who have put their 
trust in Jesus. As Satan looks upon his kingdom, the fruit 
of his toil, he sees only failure and ruin. He has led the 
multitudes to believe that the city of God would be an easy 
prey ; but he knows that this is false. Again and again, in 
the progress of the great controversy, he has been defeated, 
and compelled to yield. He knows too well the power and 
majesty of the Eternal. 

The aim of the great rebel has ever been to justify him- 
self, and to prove the divine government responsible for the 
rebellion. To this end he has bent all the power of his 



670 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

giant intellect. He has worked deliberately and systemat- 
ically, and with marvelous success, leading vast multitudes 
to accept his version of the great controversy which has 
been so long in progress. For thousands of years this chief 
of conspiracy has palmed off falsehood for truth. But the 
time has now come when the rebellion is to be finally de- 
feated, and the history and character of Satan disclosed. 
In his last great effort to dethrone Christ, destroy his people, 
and take possession of the city of God, the arch-deceiver has 
been fully unmasked. Those who have united with him 
see the total failure of his cause. Christ's followers and the 
loyal angels behold the full extent of his machinations 
against the government of God. He is the object of uni- 
versal abhorrence. 

Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him 
for Heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God; 
the purity, peace, and harmony of Heaven would be to him 
supreme torture. His accusations against the mercy and 
justice of God are now silenced. The reproach which he 
has endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests wholly upon 
himself. And now Satan bows clown, and confesses the 
justice of his sentence. 

" Who shall not fear thee, Lord, and glorify thy name? 
for thou only art holy : for all nations shall come and wor- 
ship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." 1 
Every question of truth and error in the long-standing con- 
troversy has now been made plain. The results of rebellion, 
the fruits of setting aside the divine statutes, have been laid 
open to the view of all created intelligences. The working 
out of Satan's rule in contrast with the government of God, 
has been presented to the whole universe. Satan's own 
works have condemned him. God's wisdom, his justice, 
and his goodness stand fully vindicated. It is seen that 
all his dealings in the great controversy have been con- 
ducted with respect to the eternal good of his people, and 
the good of all the worlds that he has created. " All thy 

l ~Rev. 15:4. 



THE CONTROVERSY EX I) EI). 671 

works shall praise thee, Lord; and thy saints shall bless 
thee." 1 The history of sin will stand to all eternity as a 
witness that with the existence of God's law is bound up the 
happiness of all the beings he has created. With all the 
facts of the great controversy in view, the whole universe, 
both loyal and rebellious, with one accord declare, "Just and 
true are thy ways, thou King of saints." 

Before the universe has been clearly presented the great 
sacrifice made by the Father and the Son in man's behalf. 
The hour has come when Christ occupies his rightful posi- 
tion, and is glorified above principalities and powers and 
every name that is named. It was for the joy that was set 
before him, — that he might bring many sons unto glory, — 
that he endured the cross and despised the shame. And 
inconceivably great as was the sorrow and the shame, yet 
greater is the joy and the glory. He looks upon the re- 
deemed, renewed in his own image, every heart bearing the 
perfect impress of the divine, every face reflecting the like- 
ness of their King. He beholds in them the result of the 
travail of his soul, and he is satisfied. Then, in a voice that 
reaches the assembled multitudes of the righteous and the 
wicked, he declares, "Behold the purchase of my blood! 
For these I suffered; for these I died; that they might dwell 
in my presence throughout eternal ages." And the song of 
praise ascends from the white-robed ones about the throne, 
"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and 
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing." 2 

Notwithstanding that Satan has been constrained to ac- 
knowledge God's justice, and to bow to the supremacy of 
Christ, his character remains unchanged. The spirit of re- 
bellion, like a mighty torrent, again bursts forth. Filled with 
frenzy, he determines not to yield the great controvers}\ 
The time has come for a last desperate struggle against the 
King of Heaven. He rushes into the midst of his subjects, 
and endeavors to inspire them with his own fury, and arouse 

1 Ps. 145 : 10. 2 Rev. 5 : 12. 



672 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

them to instant battle. But of all the countless millions 
whom he has allured into rebellion, there are none now to 
acknowledge his supremacy. His power is at an end. The 
wicked are filled with the same hatred of God that inspires 
Satan; but they see that their case is hopeless, that they 
cannot prevail against Jehovah. Their rage is kindled 
against Satan and those who have been his agents in decep- 
tion, and with the fury of demons they turn upon them. 

Saith the Lord : " Because thou hast set thine heart as the 
heart of God ; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon 
thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their 
swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall 
defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the 
pit." " I will destroy thee, covering cherub, from the 
midst of the stones of fire. ... I will cast thee to the 
ground. I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold 
thee." "I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the 
sight of all them that behold thee. . . . Thou shalt be 
a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." l 

"Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and 
garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning 
and fuel of fire." "The indignation of the Lord is upon 
all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath 
utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the 
slaughter." " Upon the wicked he shall rain quick burning 
coals, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall 
be the portion of their cup." 2 Fire comes down from God 
out of Heaven. The earth is broken up. The weapons con- 
cealed in its depths are drawn forth. Devouring flames 
burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are on 
fire. The day has come that shall burn as an oven. The 
elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the 
works that are therein are burned up. 3 The earth's surface 
seems one molten mass, — a vast, seething lake of fire. It is 
the time of the judgment and perdition of ungodly men, — ■ 

1 Eze. 28 : 6-8, 16-19. 2 Isa. 9:5; 34 : 2; Ps. 11:6 (margin). 

3 Mai. 4:1; 2 Pet. 3:10. 



THE CONTR VERS Y END EI). 673 

" the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recom- 
penses for the controversy of Zion." l 

The wicked receive their recompense in the earth. 1 They 
"shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them 
up, saith the Lord of hosts." 2 Some are destroyed as in a 
moment, while others suffer many days. All are punished 
"according to their deeds." The sins of the righteous hav- 
ing been transferred to Satan, he is made to suffer not only 
for his own rebellion, but for all the sins which he has caused 
God's j^eople to commit. His punishment is to be far greater 
than that of those whom he has deceived. After all have 
perished who fell by his deceptions, he is still to live and 
suffer on. In the cleansing names the wicked are at last 
destroyed, root and branch, — Satan the root, his followers the 
branches. The full penalty of the law has been visited; the 
demands of justice have been met; and Heaven and earth, 
beholding, declare the righteousness of Jehovah. 

Satan's work of ruin is forever ended. For six thousand 
years he has wrought his will, filling the earth with woe, 
and causing grief throughout the universe. The whole 
creation has groaned and travailed together in pain. Now 
God's creatures are forever delivered from his presence and 
temptations. " The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they 
[the righteous] break forth into singing." 3 And a shout 
of praise and triumph ascends from the whole loyal uni- 
verse. " The voice of a great multitude," " as the voice of 
many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings," is 
heard, saying, "Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth." 

While the earth was wrapped in the fire of destruction, 
the righteous abode safely in the holy city. Upon those 
that had part in the first resurrection, the second death has 
no power. 4 While God is to the wicked a consuming fire, 
he is to his people both a sun and a shield. 4 

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first 

ilsa. 34^8; Prov. 11 :31. 2 Mai. 4:1. 3 Isa. 14 : 7. 

* Rev. 20:6; Ps. 84:11. 

47 



674 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

heaven and the first earth were passed away." l The fire 
that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace 
of the curse is swept away. No eternally burning hell will 
keep before the ransomed the fearful consequences of sin. 

One reminder alone remains : our Redeemer will ever bear 
the marks of his crucifixion. Upon his wounded head, upon 
his side, his hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel 
work that sin has wrought. Says the prophet, beholding 
Christ in his glory, " He had bright beams coming out of his 
side; and there was the hiding of his power." 2 That pierced 
side whence flowed the crimson stream that reconciled man 
to God, — there is the Saviour's glory, there "the hiding of 
his power." " Mighty to save," through the sacrifice of re- 
demption, he was .therefore strong to execute justice upon 
them that despised God's mercy. And the tokens of his 
humiliation are his highest honor; through the eternal ages 
the wounds of Calvary will show forth his praise, and de- 
clare his power. 

" Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of 
Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion." 3 The 
time has come, to which holy men have looked with long- 
ing since the naming sword barred the first pair from Eden, 
— the time for " the redemption of the purchased possession." 3 
The earth originally given to man as his kingdom, betrayed 
by him into the hands of Satan, and so long held by the 
mighty foe, has been brought back by the great plan of 
redemption. All that was lost by sin has been restored. 
"Thus saith the Lord . . . that formed the earth and 
made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he 
formed it to be inhabited." 4 God's original purpose in the 
creation of the earth is fulfilled as it is made the eternal 
abode of the redeemed. "The righteous shall inherit the 
land, and dwell therein forever." 5 

A fear of making the future inheritance seem too material 
has led many to spiritualize away the very truths which lead 

1 Rev. 21 : 1. 2 Hab. 3 : 4 (margin). 3 Micah 4:8; Eph. 1 : 14. 

4 Isa. 45:18. 5 Ps. 37:29. 



THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 675 

us to look upon it as our home. Christ assured his disciples 
that lie went to prepare mansions for them in the Father's 
house. Those who accept the teachings of God's Word will 
not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode. 
And yet, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of man. the things which God hath 
prepared for them that love him." x Human language is 
inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will 
be known only to those who behold it, No finite mind can 
comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God. 

In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called a coun- 
try. 2 There the heavenly Shepherd leads his flock to 
fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit 
every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service 
of the nations. There are ever-flowing streams, clear as 
crystal, and beside them w T aving trees cast their shadows 
upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. 
There the widespreading plains swell into hills of beauty, 
and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On 
those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God's 
people, so long pilgrims and Avanderers, shall find a home. 

"My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and 
in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places." "Violence 
shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction 
within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, 
and thy gates Praise." " They shall build houses, and in- 
habit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the 
fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; 
they shall not plant, and another eat: . . . mine elect 
shall long enjoy the work of their hands." 3 

There, "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be 
glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as 
the rose." "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, 
and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree." 4 
" The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 

x l Cor. 2:9. 2 Heb. 11 : 14-16. 3 Isa. 32 : 18; 60 : 18; 65 :21, 22. 
* Isa. 35 : 1 ; 55 : 1 3. 



673 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

shall lie down with the kid; . . . and a little child shall 
lead them." " They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my 
holy mountain/' 1 saith the Lord. 

Pain cannot exist in the atmosphere of Heaven. There 
will be no more tears, no funeral trains, no badges of mourn- 
ing. "There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, ... for the former things are passed away." 2 
"The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that 
dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity." l 

There is the New Jerusalem, the metropolis of the glorified 
new earth," "a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and 
a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." 1 " Her light was like 
unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear 
as crystal." "The- nations of them wmich are saved shall 
walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring 
their glory and honor into it." 2 Saith the Lord, "I will 
rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people." 1 "The tab- 
ernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, 
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with 
them, and be their God." 2 

In the city of God "there shall be no night." None will 
need or desire repose. There will be no weariness in doing 
the will of God and offering praise to his. name. We shall 
ever feel the freshness of the morning, and shall ever be far 
from its close. "And they need no candle, neither light of 
the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light." 3 The light 
of the sun will be superseded by a radiance which is not 
painfully dazzling, yet which immeasurably surpasses the 
brightness of our noontide. The glory of God and the Lamb 
floods the holy city with unfading light. The redeemed 
walk in the sunless glory of perpetual day. 

"I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty 
and the Lamb are the temple of it." 3 The people of God 
are privileged to hold open communion with the Father and 
the Son. Now w 7 e " see through a glass, darkly." i We be- 

1 Isa. 11 : 6, 9; 33 : 24; 62 : 3; 65 : 19. 2 Rev. 21 : 4, 11, 24, 3. 

3 Rev. 22:5; 21 : 22. 4 1 Cor. 13 : 12. 



THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. G77 

hold the image of God reflected, as in a mirror, in the works 
of nature and in his dealings with men; but then we shall 
see him face to face, without a dimming veil between. We 
shall stand in his presence, and behold the glory of his 
countenance. 

There the redeemed shall "know, even as also they are 
known." The loves and sympathies which God himself has 
planted in the soul, shall there find truest and sweetest ex- 
ercise. The pure communion with holy beings, the har- 
monious social life with the blessed angels and with the 
faithful ones of all ages, who have washed their robes and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb, the sacred ties 
that bind together " the whole family in Heaven and earth," 1 
— these help to constitute the happiness of the redeemed. 

There, immortal minds will contemplate with never-failing 
delight the wonders of creative power, the mysteries of re- 
deeming love. There is no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt to 
forgetfulness of God. Every faculty will be developed, every 
capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not 
w T eary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest 
enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations 
reached, the highest ambitions realized ; and still there will 
arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new 
truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers 
of mind and soul and body. 

All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study 
of God's redeemed. Unfettered by mortality, they wing their 
tireless flight to worlds afar,— worlds that thrilled with sorrow 
at the spectacle of human woe, and rang with songs of glad- 
ness at the tidings of a ransomed soul. With unutterable 
delight the children of earth enter into the joy and the 
wisdom of unfallen beings. They share the treasures of 
knowledge and understanding gained through ages upon 
ages in contemplation of God's handiwork. AVith un- 
dimmed vision they gaze upon the glory of creation, — suns 
and stars and systems, all in their appointed order circling 

1 Eph. 3 : 15. 



678 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 

the throne of Deity. Upon all things, from the least to the 
greatest, the Creator's name is written, and in all are the 
riches of his power displayed. 

And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer 
and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As 
knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and hap- 
piness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater 
will be their admiration of his character. As Jesus opens 
before them the riches of redemption, and the amazing 
achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the 
hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, 
and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; 
and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thou- 
sands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise. 

"And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the 
earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and 
all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, 
and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." 1 

The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no 
more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony 
and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him 
who created all, flow life and light and . gladness, through- 
out the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest 
atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inani- 
mate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare 
that God is Love. 

^ev. 5:13. 



APPENDIX 



GENERAL NOTES. 

NOTE i. Page 53.— Constantine's Sunday law, issued a. d. 321, was as 
follows: — 

"Let all the judges and town people, and. the occupation of all trades 
rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the 
country, freely and at full liberty attend to the business of agriculture; be- 
cause it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting 
vines; lest, the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commod- 
ities granted by Heaven. " 

Of this law, so high an authority as the "Encyclopedia Brittannica" 
plainly says: "It was Constantine the Great who first made a law for the 
proper observance of Sunday; and who, according to Eusebius, appointed 
that it should be regularly celebrated throughout the Roman Empire. Before 
him, and even in his time, they observed the Jewish Sabbath, as well as 
Sunday." As to the degree of reverence with which Sunday was regarded, 
and the manner of its observance, Mosheim says that in consequence of the 
law enacted by Constantine, the first day of the week was " observed with greater 
solemnity than it had formerly been." 1 Yet Constantine permitted all kinds of 
agricultural labor to be performed on Sunday! Bishop Taylor declares that 
"the primitive Christians did all manner of works upon the Lord's day." 2 
The same statement is made by Morer: "The day [Sunday] was not wholly 
kept in abstaining from common business; nor did they [Christians] any 
longer rest from their ordinary affairs (such was the necessity of those times) 
than during the divine service." 3 Says Cox: "There is no evidence that 
either at this [the time of Constantine], or at a period much later, the ob- 
servance was viewed as deriving any obligation from the fourth command- 
ment; it seems to have been regarded as an institution corresponding in 
nature with Christmas, Good Friday, and other festivals of the church."' 4 

NOTE 2. Page 54. — In the twelfth chapter of Revelation we have as 
a symbol a great red dragon. In the ninth verse of that chapter this symbol 
is explained as follows: " And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, 
called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast 
out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Undoubtedly 
the dragon primarily represents Satan. But Satan does not appear upon the 

1 Eccl. Hist. , cent. 4, part 2, chap. 4, sec. 5. 

2 Duct. Dubitant., part 1, book 2, chap. 2, rule 6, sec. 59. 

3 Dialogues on the Lord's Day, p. 233. 

4 Cox's Sabbath Laws, p. 281. 

(679) 



680 APPENDIX. 



earth in person; he works through agents. It was in the person of wicked 
men that he sought to destroy Jesus as soon as he was born. Wherever Satan 
lias been able to control a government so fully that it would carry out his 
designs, that nation became, for the time, Satan's representative. This was 
the case with all the great heathen nations. For instance, see Ezekiel 28, 
where Satan is represented as actual king of Tyre. This was because he 
fully controlled that government. In the first centuries of the Christian era, 
Home, of all the pagan nations, was Satan's chief agent in opposing the gospel, 
and was therefore represented by the dragon. 

But there came a time when paganism in the Roman Empire fell before 
the advancing form of Christianity. Then, as is stated on page 54, " Paganism 
had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast ' his power, 
and his seat, and great authority.'" That is, Satan then began to work 
through the papacy, just as he had formerly worked through paganism. But 
the papacy is not represented by the dragon, because it is necessary to in- 
troduce another symbol in order to show the change in the form of the oppo- 
sition to God. Previous to the rise of the papacy, all opposition to the law 
of God had been in the form of paganism, — God had been openly defied; but 
from that time the opposition was .carried on under the guise of professed 
allegiance to him. The papacy, however, was no less the instrument of Satan 
than was pagan Pome; for all the power, the seat, and the great authority 
of the papacy, were given it by the dragon. And so, although the pope pro- 
fesses to be the vicegerent of Christ, he is, in reality, the vicegerent of Satan 
— he is antichrist. 

The beast which is a symbol of the papacy is introduced in Pevelation 
13; and following it, in the same line of prophecy, "another beast" is 
seen " coming up," l which exercises " all the power of the first beast before 
him," that is, in his sight. This other beast must therefore be a persecuting 
power also; and this is shown in that "it spake as a dragon." The papacy 
received all its power from Satan, and the two-horned beast exercises the 
same power; it also becomes the direct agent of Satan. And its Satanic char- 
acter is further shown in that it enforces the worship of the image of the beast, 
by means of false miracles. "He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh 
fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth 
them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had 
power to do." 

The first persecuting power is represented by the dragon itself; in 
heathenism there was open alliance with Satan, and open defiance of God. 
In the second persecuting power, the dragon is masked; but the spirit of 
Satan actuates it, — the dragon supplies the motive power. In the third per- 
secuting power, all traces of the dragon are absent, and a lamb-like beast 
appears; but when it speaks, its dragon voice betrays the Satanic power con- 
cealed under a fair exterior, and shows it to be of the same family as the two 
preceding powers. In all the opposition to Christ and his pure religion, " that 
old serpent, called the devil, and Satan," — "the god of this world," — is the 
moving power; earthly persecuting powers are simply instruments in his 
hands. 

x Pev. 13:11-14. 



GENERAL NOTES. 681 



NOTE 3. Page 328. — That the reader may see the reasonableness of 
Mr. Miller's position on the prophetic periods, we copy the following, which 
was published in the Advent Herald, Boston, in March, 1830, in answer to a 
correspondent : — 

" It is by the Canon of Ptolemy that the great prophetical period ot the 
seventy weeks is fixed. This Canon places the seventh year of Artaxerxes 
in the year b. c. 457; and the accuracy of the Canon is demonstrated by the 
concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses. The seventy weeks 
date from the going forth of a decree respecting the restoration of Jerusalem. 
There were no decrees between the seventh and twentieth years of Arta- 
xerxes. Four hundred and ninety years, beginning with the seventh, must 
commence in b. c. 457, and end in a. d. 3i. Commencing in the twentieth, 
they must commence in b. c. 444, and end in a. d. 47. As no event occurred 
in A. d. 47 to mark their termination, we cannot reckon from the twentieth; 
we must therefore look to the seventh of Artaxerxes. This date we cannot 
change from b. c. 457 without first demonstrating the inaccuracy of Ptolemy's 
Canon. To do this, it would be necessary to show that the large number of 
eclipses by which its accuracy has been repeatedly demonstrated, have not 
been correctly computed; and such a result would unsettle every chrono- 
logical date, and leave the settlement of epochs and the adjustment of eras 
entirely at the mercy of every dreamer, so that chronology would be of no 
more value than mare guess-work. As the seventy weeks must terminate in 

a. d. 34, unless the seventh of Artaxerxes is wrongly fixed, and as that cannot 
he changed without some evidence to that effect, we inquire, What evidence 
marked that termination ? The time when the apostles turned to the Gen- 
tiles harmonizes with that date better than any other which has been named. 
And the crucifixion, in a. d. 31, in the midst of the last week, is sustained 
hy a mass of testimony which cannot be easily invalidated." 

As the 70 weeks and the 2300 days have a common starting-point, the 
calculation of Mr. Miller is verified at a glance by subtracting the 457 years 

b. c. from the 2300. Thus, 

2300 
457 

1843 a. d. 

The year 1843 was, however, regarded as extending to the spring of 1844. 
The reason for this, briefly stated, is as follows: Anciently the year did not 
commence in midwinter, as now, but at the first new moon after the vernal 
equinox. Therefore, as the period of 2300 days was begun in a year reckoned 
by the ancient method, it was considered necessary to conform to that method 
to its close. Hence, 1843 was counted as ending in the spring, and not in 
the winter. 

But the 2300 days cannot be reckoned from the beginning of the year 457 
b. c. ; for the decree of Artaxerxes — which is the starting-point — did not go 
into effect until the autumn of that year. Consequently the 2300 days, be- 
ginning in the autumn of 457 B.C., must extend to the autumn of 1844 a. d. 
(See small diagram on plate opposite page 328.) 



682 APPENDIX. 



This fact not being at first perceived by Mr. Miller and his associates, 
they looked for the coming of Christ in 1843, or in the spring of 1844; hence 
the first disappointment and the seeming delay. It was the discovery of the 
correct time, in connection with other Scripture testimony, that led to the 
movement known as the "midnight cry " of 1844. And to this day the com- 
putation of the prophetic periods placing the close of the 2300 days in the 
autumn of 1844, stands without impeachment. 

NOTE 4. Page 373. — The story that the Adventists made robes with 
which to ascend "to meet the Lord in the air," was invented by those who 
wished to reproach the cause. It was circulated so industriously that many 
believed it; but careful inquiry proved its falsity. For many years a large 
reward has been offered for proof that one such instance ever occurred; but 
the proof has not been produced. None who loved the appearing of the 
Saviour were so ignorant of the teachings of the Scriptures as to suppose that 
robes which they could make would be necessary for that occasion. The only 
robe which the saints will need to meet the Lord will be that of the right- 
eousness of Christ. See Rev. 19 : 8. 

NOTE 5. Page 374.— Dr. Geo. Bush, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental 
Literature in the New York City University, in a letter addressed to Mr. 
Miller, and published in the Advent Herald for March, 1844, made some very 
important admissions relative to his calculations of the prophetic times. Mr. 
Bush says: — 

"Neither is it to be objected, as I conceive, to yourself or your friends, 
that you have devoted much time and attention to the study of the chronology 
of prophecy, and have labored much to determine the commencing and closing 
dates of its great periods. If these periods are actually given by the Holy 
Ghost in the prophetic books, it was doubtless with the design that they 
should be studied, and probably, in the end, fully understood; and no man 
is to be charged with presumptuous folly who reverently makes the attempt 
to do this. ... In taking a day as the prophetical term for a year, I 
believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by 
the high names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Kirby, Scott, 
Keith, and a host of others, who have long since come to substantially your 
conclusions on this head. They all agree that the leading periods mentioned 
by Daniel and John do actually expire about this age of the world, and it would 
be a strange logic that would convict you of heresy for holding in effect the 
same views which stand forth so prominently in the notices of these eminent 
divines." "Your results in this field of inquiry do not strike me as so far 
out of the way as to affect any of the great interests of truth and duty." 
" Your error, as I apprehend, lies in another direction than your chronology." 
"You have entirely mistaken the nature of the events which are to occur 
when those periods have expired. This is the head and front of your ex- 
pository offending. . . . The great event before the world is not its 
•physical conflagration, but its moral regeneration. Although there is doubtless 
a sense in which Christ may be said to come in connection with the passing 



GENERAL NOTES. 683 

away of the fourth empire and of the Ottoman pow er, and his kingdom to be 
illustriously established, yet that will be found to be a spiritual coming in the 
power of his gospel, in the ample outpouring of his Spirit, and the glorious 
administration of his providence." Evidently, Mr. Bush looked for the con- 
version of the world as the event to mark the termination of the 2300 days. 
Both Mr. Miller and Mr. Bush were right on the time question, and both 
were mistaken in the event to occur at the close of the great periods. 

The doctrines taught by Mr. Miller did not originate with him; every 
point advanced in his expositions of prophecy, taken separately, was admitted 
by some among his opponents. Hence there were none who condemned all 
his views, and those who attempted to refute him found that there was as 
great diversity among themselves as between him and them. They had not 
only to overthrow Mr. Miller's theory, but each had to correct those of the 
others. This being the case, their arguments could, of course, have little 
weight with those who had received his views. 

To oppose Miller, men who had been regarded as leaders of religious 
thought were ready to abandon long-established principles of Protestant 
interpretation. The Boston Recorder (Orthodox Cong.) said: " It must needs 
be acknowledged that our faith is greatly shaken in the interpretations on which, 
in common with most of our own brethren, we have heretofore relied, and which, 
form the foundation of the baseless theories of Miller " ! 

In their determination to disprove Mr. Miller's positions, some were ready 
even to join with Universalists, adopting indefinite and spiritualizing methods 
of exposition, in place of those principles of literal interpretation which are 
an essential feature of the Protestant faith. • Of the arguments brought for- 
ward by Professors Stuart and Bush the New York Evangelist spoke as follows: 
"The tendency of these views is to destroy the Scripture evidence of the 
doctrine of any real end of the world, any day of final judgment, or general 
resurrection of the body. The style of interpretation, we assert, tends fear- 
fully to Universalism. This tendency we are prepared to prove." So also 
the Hartford Universalist said of Professor Stuart: "He puts an uncom- 
promising veto upon the popular interpretations of Daniel and Revelation, 
and unites with Universalists in contending that most of their contents had 
special reference to, and their fulfillment in, scenes and events which trans- 
pired but a few years after those books were written." It was thus that 
popular ministers prepared the minds of thousands to lightly regard the tes- 
timony of the Scriptures. 

NOTE 6. Page 411.— That the earth is the sanctuary was inferred from 
those scriptures which teach that the earth will be purified and fitted up for 
the eternal dwelling-place of the saints, according to the original design of 
the Creator. Adventists understood this just as it was taught by Wesley 
and others. And their minds did not rest on any other dwelling-place or any 
other thing which needed cleansing. The only scriptures which we ever 
knew to be offered in favor of the earth or any dwelling-place of man being 
called the sanctuary, fairly disprove the position. They are only three in 
number, as follows: — 



684 APPENDIX, 



Ex. 15 : 17: "Thou shalt bring them [the people] in, and plant them in 
the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, Lord, which thou hast 
made for thee to dwell in; in the sanctuary, Lord, which thy hands have 
established." Without taking time or space to give an exposition of the text, 
it is sufficient for the present purpose to remark that it disproves the idea of the 
earth being the sanctuary. Whatever construction may be placed upon the 
text, it teaches that the people were not then in the sanctuary; but they were 
in the earth. Then it is claimed that it referred to that part of the earth into 
which they were to be brought, namely, Palestine. This is disproved by the 
second text. 

Josh. 24 -.26: "And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of 
God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by 
the sanctuary of the Lord." The stone and the oak were in Palestine, but 
they were by the sanctuary of the Lord — not in it. And the other text is 
more restrictive still, and equally conclusive against the inference to which 
reference is herein made. 

Ps. 78 : 54: " And he brought them [his people] to the border of his sanct- 
uary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased." The 
mountain was Mount Moriah, on which the temple of Solomon was built; 
yet being brought unto it is called being brought "to the border of his 
sanctuary. " Thus these texts do not prove that the earth is the sanctuary, 
but rather the reverse. 

Jehoshaphat's prayer gives the true idea of the relation of that land to 
the sanctuary: "Art not thou our God^ who didst drive out the inhabitants 
of this land before thy people » Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham 
thy friend forever ? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary 
therein for thy name." 2 Chron. 20 :7, 8. This corresponds to the command 
in Ex. 25 :8: "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among 
them." In this same book is given a minute description of the sanctuary, its 
erection, and approval by the Lord. The process of cleansing the sanctuary 
is described in Leviticus 16. While the children of Israel possessed Canaan, 
Solomon built a temple, in which was a holy and a most holy place; and the 
vessels of the movable sanctuary, which was made in the desert of Sinai, 
were transferred to the temple. This was then the sanctuary, — the dwelling- 
place of God's glory upon the earth. 

Some have inferred that the earthly sanctuary was a symbol of the church, 
reasoning from those scriptures in which the church is called the temple of 
God. But it is not infrequently the case in Scripture that in different con- 
nections the same figure is employed to represent different objects. The Bible 
plainly teaches that the holy places of the earthly sanctuary were " patterns 
of things in the heavens." Heb. 9:23. The expression, "temple of God," 
is sometimes employed to designate the sanctuary in Heaven, and sometimes 
the church. Its significance, in each case, must be determined by the context. 

NOTE 7. Page 429.— Almost all Adventists, including Mr. Miller, did, 
for a short time after their disappointment in 1844, believe that the world 
had received its last warning. They could hardly think otherwise, with their 



GENERAL NOTES. 685 

faith in the message which they had given, — "The hour of his Judgment is 
come." Rev. 14 : C, 7. They naturally thought that this proclamation must 
close the dispensation. 

But the idea that the work of the gospel was finished was soon renounced, 
except by some fanatical ones who would neither be counseled nor receive 
instruction. One class who relinquished the view that "the door of mercy 
was shut," were led to do this because they discovered that other messages were 
to be proclaimed after that declaring, The hour of Judgment is come; and that 
that of the third angel, the last one, was to go to "many peoples, and nations, 
and tongues, and kings." They learned that the Judgment sits in Heaven 
before the coming of the Lord; that the judgment of the righteous is fully 
accomplished while Jesus is yet their Advocate before the Father's throne; 
that eternal life is instantly given to the saints when their Saviour comes, 
which is proof that they have been judged and acquitted. 

With the light on the third message they also received light on the 
sanctuary and its cleansing, by which they understood that the antitypical 
work of the day of atonement, which was accomplished in the most holy 
place, was that which was pointed out by the message which they had given. 
They saw that there were two veils or doors in the temple of God (Heb. 9:3), 
and that at that time one was shut and the other was opened. With earnest 
zeal and new hope they preached these truths, and urged their fellow-men 
to seek an entrance by faith into the most holy place within the second veil, 
where our great High Priest is gone to blot out the sins of all his faithful ones, 
from Abel to the present time, 

NOTE 8. Page 435.— Eev. 14:6, 7, foretells the proclamation of the 
first angel's message. Then the prophet continues: "There followed another 
angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, . . . and the third angel fol- 
lowed them." The word here rendered "followed," means, in constructions 
like that in this text, " to go with." Liddell and Scott render the word thus: 
" To follow one, go after or tenth him." Robinson says: " To follow, to go with, 
to accompany anyone." It is the same word that is used in Mark 5 : 24: " And 
Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him." 
It is also used of the redeemed one hundred and forty-four thousand, where 
it is said: " These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." 
Rev. 14 : 4. In both these places it is evident that the idea intended to be 
conveyed is that of going together, in company with. So in 1 Cor. 10 : 4, 
where we read of the children of Israel that "they drank of that spiritual 
Rock that followed them," the word "followed" is translated from the same 
Greek word, and the margin has it, " went with them." From this we learn 
that the idea in Rev. 14:8, 9, is not simply that the second and third angels 
followed the first in point of time, but that they went with it. The three 
messages are but one threefold message. They are three only in the order 
of their rise. But having risen, they go on together, and are inseparable. 

NOTE 9. Page 447. — The bishops of Rome began, very early, to de- 
mand obedience from all the churches. Of this the dispute between the 
Eastern and the Western churches respecting Easter is a striking illustration. 



686 APPENDIX. 



This dispute arose in the second century. Saj'S Mosheim: "The Christians of 
this century celebrated anniversary festivals in commemoration of the death 
and resurrection of Christ. . . . The day which was observed as the anni- 
versary of Christ's death was called the paschal day, or Passover." Like the 
Jews, Christians celebrated "a sacred feast, at which they distributed a pas- 
chal lamb in memory of the holy supper." The Christians of Asia Minor kept 
this feast on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, when the Jews 
celebrated their Passover, and when Christ is said to have eaten the paschal 
lamb with his disciples. Three days thereafter, a festival was observed in 
honor of the resurrection. The Western churches, on the other hand, cele- 
brated the resurrection of Christ on the Sunday following the Jewish Pass- 
over, and observed the paschal feast on the night preceding Sunday, thus 
connecting the commemoration of Christ's death with that of his resurrection. 

"Toward the conclusion of this [the second] century, Victor, bishop of 
Rome, endeavored to force the Asiatic Christians, by the pretended authority of 
his laws and decrees, to follow the rule which was observed by the Western 
churches in this point. Accordingly ... he wrote an imperious letter 
to the Asiatic prelates, commanding them to imitate the example of the 
Western Christians with respect to the time of celebrating the festival of Easter. 
The Asiatics answered this lordly requisition . . . with great spirit and 
resolution, that they would by no means depart, in this manner, from the 
custom handed down to them by their ancestors. Upon this the thunder 
of excommunication began to roar. Victor, exasperated by this resolute an- 
swer of the Asiatic bishops, broke communion with them, pronounced them 
unworthy of the name of his brethren, and excluded them from all fellowship 
with the Church of Rome." 1 This, says Bower, was "the first essay of 
papal usurpation." 

For a time, however, Victor's efforts availed little. No regard was paid 
to his letters, and the Asiatics continued to follow their ancient practice. 
But by enlisting the support of the imperial power, which the church for so 
many centuries controlled to serve her purposes, Rome finally conquered. 
The Council of Nice, "out of complaisance to Constantine the Great, ordered 
the solemnity of Easter to be kept everywhere on the same day, after the 
custom of Rome." 2 This decree, "backed by the authority of so great an 
emperor," was decisive; "none but some scattered schismatics, now and then 
appearing, that durst oppose the resolution of that famous synod. " 3 

NOTE 10. Page 565. — There is no more remarkable movement of the 
present day, and no one fraught with more vital consequences to men and 
nations, than the rapidly reviving influence of the papacy in national affairs. 
The papacy is fast moving into the place of the greatest influence of any 
earthly organization. In Europe, to say nothing of Catholic countries, 
which, as a matter of course, are subject to the pope, Chancellor Bismarck 
has made Germany virtually subject to the dictation of the papacy; England 
has invited the interference of the pope in her political affairs in the contest 

1 Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 2, part 2, chap. 4., IT 9, 11. 

2 Bower's History of the Popes, vol. 1, pp. 18, 19. 

3 Heylyn, History of the Sabbath, part 2, chap. 2, sees. 4, 5. 



GENERAL NOTES. 687 

with Ireland; and even the Czar of Russia has shown himself willing to make 
overtures to the papacy. On the occasion of the golden jubilee of the priest- 
hood of Leo XIII., it is well known that, except the kingdom of Italy and 
the united kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, every nation, Protestant as well 
as Catholic, paid grateful respect to Rome. 

If any nation might justly be expected to keep clear of Romish influences, 
the United States of America should be the one above all others, as it is 
constitutionally pledged to have nothing at all to do toward "an establish- 
ment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Yet this nation is 
in nowise behind the others in paying assiduous court to Rome. When the 
papal delegates came to America bearing to Cardinal Gibbons the trappings 
of his Romish dignity, a government vessel was dispatched down New York 
harbor to meet them, with the papal flag, instead of the stars and stripes, 
flying from the place of honor. And at the investiture of Cardinal Gibbons 
with the purple of a papal prince, President Cleveland sent him a letter of 
congratulation. The Converted Catholic says that a larger number of senators 
and representatives send their sons to the Jesuit College at Georgetown — one 
of the suburbs of the national capital — than to all the other institutions of 
learning at Washington, which proves either that the larger number of senators 
and representatives are Catholics, or that Rome has more influence with 
senators and representatives than have all the educational institutions in 
Washington put together. In view of this fact, it is not to be wondered at 
that Rome decided to build her national university at the national capital. 

Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior under President Cleve- 
land, was charged with giving to Catholics more positions in his department 
than to other denominations. His reply was that "if Roman Catholics have 
been recognized to a greater extent than other denominations, it is only be- 
cause they have asked more largely; " and explained this by saying that the 
Romish Church has at Washington ' ' an energetic and tireless director, who 
is active to seize opportunities for extending missionary and educational work 
among the Indians." The Christian Union says that four-fifths of the gov- 
ernment Indian schools, under religious control, have been given to Roman 
Catholics. The Assistant Attorney-General, of the Department of the In- 
terior, under President Cleveland's administration, — Mr. Zach. Montgomery, — 
is a Roman Catholic, with all the Roman Catholic enmity to the public schools, 
and hesitates not to use his official position and influence to show it. During 
his term of office, in an address at Carroll Institute, he openly denounced the 
public-school system as godless, anti-parental, and destructive of happiness. 
And the United States Senate fully knew his enmity to the public schools 
when it confirmed his appointment as Assistant Attorney-General. The New 
York Observer says that the only public hospital that receives any government 
.aid is a Roman Catholic one. 

In a published letter to Hon. Warner Miller, one of the delegates at 
large from New York to the National Republican Convention, 1888, Hon. 
John Jay, late Minister to Austria, says that the Roman Catholics even now 
"coolly discuss the disposition they will make of the United States, as a 
people already subject to the Vatican by the Irish votes. Archbishop Lynch, 



688 APPENDIX. 



of Canada, wrote to Lord Eandolph Churchill (the Churchman, New York, 
April 2, 1887): 'The Irish vote is a great factor in America. 5 'The power 
of their organizations is increasing every day. ' ' They hold already the bal- 
ance of power in the presidential and other elections.'" Further Mr. Jay 
says: "The announcement of Mr. Chamberlain's appointment as Fishery 
Commissioner was promptly followed by a reminder that no treaty he might 
make would stand a chance of ratification. The suggestion that Mr. Phelps, 
our Minister to England, might be nominated as Chief Justice, brought a 
quick announcement that the nomination would be defeated. ... It was 
recently stated in the United States Senate (February 16, 1888), in a debate 
on the bill for ' national aid in the establishment and temporary support of 
common schools,' . . . that a senator had showed to the speaker, who 
had read it with his own eyes, the original letter of a Jesuit priest. In this 
letter he begged a member of Congress to oppose the bill and kill it, saying 
that they had organized all over the country for its destruction, that they 
had succeeded in the Committee of the House, and that they would destroy 
the bill inevitably; and it is a fact that the bill, having three times passed 
the Senate in three different Congresses, each time with a larger vote in its 
favor, has been repeatedly smothered in the Committee of the House, by 
those who knew that there was a majority in the House in favor of the bill; 
and for six years the legislation of Congress has been [thus] arrested. " 

The Roman Church largely controls the secular press of the country; 
and the leading "Protestant" religious papers, such as the New York Evan- 
gelist, the Christian at Work, the Christian Union, and the Independent, all pay . 
flattering tribute to the papacy. The Evangelist, of March 29, 1888, acknowl- 
edges Cardinal Gibbons as its " only cardinal; " the Independent wishes Pope 
Leo XIII. " a long reign and Godspeed in his liberalizing policy; " Christian 
at Work salutes him as "Holy Father," and in the name of "the whole Chris- 
tian world " glorifies him as "this venerable man whose loyalty to God and 
zeal for the welfare of humanity are as conspicuous as his freedom from many 
errors and bigotries of his predecessors is remarkable;" and the Christian Union, 
January 26, 1888, acknowledges him as " a temporal prince " and "supreme 
pontiff." 

NOTE ii. Page 573. —These movements are apparent under diverse 
forms and in different ways, but the organization which embodies almost 
every form, and works in every way to gain its end, is the National Reform 
Association. It originated ia a conference representing "eleven different 
denominations of Christians from seven of the States of the Union." It now 
has the support of prominent men from "all branches of the church," of the 
National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the Prohibiti6n party. 
It proposes to have our national Constitution amended, "in order to constitute 
a Christian government," "acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all 
authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler 
among the nations, his revealed will as the supreme law of the land; " and 
so placing "all Christian laws, institutions, and usages of our government on 
an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land." One of its 
propositions, announced by David Gregg, D. D., pastor Park Street Church, 



GENERAL NOTES. 689 

Boston, is that the State has " the right to command the consciences of men." 
Another, announced by the Christian Statesman, is that government must 
"enforce upon all that come among us the laws of Christian morality." 
Another, announced by the Rev. E. B. Graham, is that "if the opponents 
of the Bible do not like our government and its Christian features, let them go 
to some wild, desolate land; and, in the name of the devil, and for the sake 
of the devil, subdue it, and set up a government of their own on infidel and 
atheistic ideas, and then, if they can stand it, stay there till they die." 
Another, announced by Jonathan Edwards, D. D., is that Jews, and all Chris- 
tians who keep the seventh day, are to be classed as atheists, and " must 
be treated, as for this [National Reform] question, one party " with atheists, 
who " cannot dwell together on the same continent " with the National Re- 
form Christianity. 

Anybody can see at a glance that the establishment of the National Re- 
form theory of government would be but the establishment of a theocracy. 
And this is, in fact, what they propose to establish. They say that "a re- 
public thus governed is of Him, through the people, and is as really and 
truly a theocracy as the government of Israel." A monthly reading of the 
National W. 0. T. U., written by Miss Willard, on God in government, 
says: "A true theocracy is yet to come, [and] the enthronement of Christ 
in law and law-makers, hence I pray devoutly, as a Christian patriot, for the 
ballot in the hands of women. 7 ' And in her annual address to the National 
W. C. T. U. Convention, of 1887, Miss Willard said: "The kingdom of 
Christ ' must enter the realm of law through the gateway of politics. . . 
There are enough temperance men in both [the Democratic and Republican 
parties] to take possession of the government and give us national prohibition 
in the party of the near future, which is to be the party of God. . . . We 
•pray Heaven to give them no rest . . . until they shall . . . swear 
an oath of allegiance to Christ in politics, and march in one great army 'up 
to the polls to worship God.' ... I firmly believe that the patient, 
steadfast work of Christian women will so react on politics within the next 
generation that the party of God will be at the front. " Now a man-made 
theocracy is only a scheme of government which puts man in the place of 
God. That is precisely the theory upon which the papacy was built, and 
that is just what the papacy is. The National Reform theory is identical 
with that of the papacy; therefore the establishment of the National Reform 
theory in this government will be but the setting up of a living image of the 
papacy. Advocating, as these parties are, the papal theory, it is not to be 
wondered at that they are anxious to secure the co-operation of the papacy 
in carrying their scheme to success. The Christian Statesman is the official 
organ of the National Reform Association, and in an editorial, December 11, 
1884, that paper said: "We cordially, gladly, recognize the fact that in the 
South American republics, and in France and other European countries, the 
Roman Catholics are the recognized advocates of national Christianity, and 
stand opposed to all the proposals of secularism. . . . Whenever ihey are 
willing to co-operate in resisting the progress of political atheism^ we will gladly join 
hands with them. In a World's Conference for the promotion of national 
. 48 



690 APPENDIX. 



Christianity — which ought to be held at no distant day — many countries 
could be represented only by Roman Catholics. " And in that same paper, 
August 31, 1881, Rev. Sylvester Scovil said: "This common interest ["of 
all religious people in the Sabbath " — Sunday] ought both to strengthen our 
determination to work, and our readiness to co-operate in every way with 
our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens. We may be subjected to some rebuffs 
in our first proffers, and the time is not yet come when the Roman Church 
will consent to strike hands with other churches — as such; but the time has 
come to make repeated advances, and gladly to accept co-operation in any 
form in which they may be willing to exhibit it. It is one of the necessities 
of the situation. The nexus between the two great divisions of Christianity 
on questions of moral legislation is a thing worthy the consideration of our 
best minds and our men of largest experience in such affairs." In perfect 
accord with this is the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII., 1885, which directs 
that " all Catholics should do all in their power to cause the constitutions of 
States, and legislation, to be modeled on the principles of the true church, 
and all Catholic writers and journalists should never lose sight, for an in- 
stant, from the view of the above prescriptions." Therefore as the purpose 
of the National Reform Association is identical with that of Rome, it is only 
to be expected that they should show a readiness to "gladly join hands." 
And whenever Protestantism gains control of the civil power, whether with 
or without the aid of Rome, that will be but to erect an image of the papacy. 

NOTE 12. Page 578. — There are still observers of the Bible Sabbath 
in Abyssinia. Joseph Wolff, in his journal for 1836, giving an account of his 
visit to that country, says that "the Sabbath of the Jews, i. e., Saturday, is 
kept strictly among the Abyssinians in the province of Hamazien." 

NOTE 13. Pages 605, 613. — The word "seal " is used in the Scriptures 
in various senses, even as in common life. The definition given by Webster, 
the most comprehensive, is as follows: "That which confirms, ratifies, or 
makes stable; assurance; that which authenticates; that which secures, makes 
reliable, or stable." The terms "mark" and "sign," also given by him, are 
used in the Scriptures as synonymous with seal, as in Rom. 4:11. 

In the covenant with Noah it is used in the sense of assurance, or evi- 
dence of stability. The bow in the cloud was given as a sign or token that 
God would not again destroy the earth by a flood. Gen. 9 : 13. In the 
covenant with Abraham, circumcision was the token or sign. This ratified, 
or made sure; for they who had not this token were cut off. Gen. 17 : 11, 14. 
This sign or token was an institution, a rite. Gesenius gives "a memorial" 
as one definition of the word found in the original of these texts. But a 
memorial, in the sense of a reminder, or a remembrancer, is a token or sign. 

In Ex. 31 : 17 and Eze. 20 : 12, 20, the Sabbath of the Lord is called a 
sign. It is a memorial of the Creator's work, and so a sign of his power and 
Godhead. Rom. 1 : 20. This is also an institution, as was circumcision; but 
there is this distinction: circumcision was a sign in the flesh, while the Sab- 
bath is a sign in the mind. "Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a 
sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." 
Eze, 20 : 20. 






GENERAL NOTES. 691 



In Eze. 9 : 4r the word used in the original is translated mark. Gesenius 
says, "amark, sign." The Septuagint gives the same word in this text that 
is given in the Greek of Rom. 4:11, rendered "sign." Thus the words 
sign, mark, and seal are applied to the same things, or used as of like sig- 
nification, in the Scriptures. 

In Eze. 9 : 4 and Rev. 7:2, 3, the mark or sign is said to be placed in the 
foreheads of the servants of God. Both these scriptures refer to a time when 
utter destruction is coming on the ungodly. The seal is placed upon God's 
people as a safeguard to preserve them from the evil impending. But "the 
forehead " is evidently used as a figure, to denote the intellect or mind, as 
"the heart " is used to denote the disposition or affections = To mark or seal 
in the forehead is the same as to "write in the mind." Heb. 10 : 16. 

The Sabbath is the sign of God; it is the seal of his law. Isa. 8:16. It 
is the token of his authority and power. It is a sign whereby ive may know 
that he is God, and therefore it is appropriately said to be placed in the fore- 
head. The worshipers of the beast (Revelation 13) are said to receive his mark 
in their foreheads or in their hands. As the forehead represents the intellect, 
the hand represents power, as Ps. 89 :48, "Shall he deliver his soul from the 
hand of the grave ? " Compulsory worship is not acceptable to God; his 
servants are sealed only in their foreheads. But it is acceptable to wicked 
powers; it has always been craved by the Romish hierarchy. See chapter 
25 for proof on the nature of this mark. The sign or seal of God is his 
Sabbath, and the seal or mark of the beast is in direct opposition to it; it 
is a counterfeit sabbath on the "day of the sun." According to Rev. 14: 
9-12, they who do not receive the mark of the beast keep the com- 
mandments of God; and the Sabbath is in the fourth precept; they keep 
the Sabbath of the Lord; they have his sign or seal. The importance of this 
sign is shown in this, that the fourth commandment is the only one in the 
law which distinguishes the Creator from false gods. Compare Jer. 10 : 10-12; 
Acts 17 : 23, 24; Rev. 14 : 6, 7, etc. And it is that part of his law for keeping 
which his people will suffer persecution. But when the wrath of God comes 
upon the persecutors who are found enforcing the sign or mark of the beast, 
then they will realize the importance of the Sabbath, — the seal of the living 
God. They who turn away from that which the Lord spoke when his voice 
shook the earth, will confess their fatal error when his voice shall shake the 
heavens and the earth. Heb. 12 :25, 26; Joel 3 : 9-16, and others. See also 
cages 639, 640 of this book. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



COLUMBA — The gospel was first carried to Great Britain in the second 
century; and thence, through the labors of Succat, or St. Patrick, in the 
fourth century, it spread to Ireland. The invasion of Britain by the pagan 
Saxons, a. d. 449, resulted in very nearly uprooting the Christian faith in 
England and Scotland. But it was revived, a hundred years later, through 
the labors of Columba, a native of Ireland, from one of the churches that had 
grown up under Succat's labors. Colurnba was very active in spreading the 
gospel in his own country, when, his attention being called to the condition 
of the heathen Picts, he determined to undertake their conversion. With a 
few companions he established himself on the little island of Iona, or Icolmkill, 
off the west coast of Scotland. A church and college grew up here; and 
through the evangelists sent out from thence, the gospel was disseminated 
through a considerable part of Europe. 

Columba was of princely birth, "of lofty stature, and noble bearing. He 
was a man of quick perception, and great force of character; one of those mas- 
terful minds that mould and sway others. " " He had an intense love for the 
Word of God, and spent much time in reading, studying, and copying it. He 
gave much time also to prayer and to the guiding of the communities which 
put themselves under his care, endeavoring to train them in useful arts as 
well as in Christian knowledge." 

Columba labored personally, and with great success, in Scotland and 
England, and several times visited Ireland. His last days were spent at Iona, 
"the isle of his heart, 5 ' as he usually called it. The closing scene was most 
touching. The day before his death, being taken to the hill which overlooked 
the mission house and its little farm, he stood surveying it for some time, and, 
lifting up both his hands, he invoked upon it the divine blessing. ' ' Return- 
ing to his hut, he resumed his daily task in transcribing the Psalter, and 
proceeded to the place where it is written, ' They that seek the Lord shall not 
lack any good thing. ' ' Here, ' he said, at the close of the page, ' I must stop. ' 
When the bell for matins rang, he hastened to the church, and, ere the breth- 
ren could join him, he had fainted before the altar. Unable to speak, he 
made a feeble effort once more to raise his right hand to bless them, and, with 
joy beaming in his face, passed to his rest." 

Columba was born at Gartan, County Donegal, Ireland, A. d. 521; died 
at Iona, Scotland, 597. 

THE WALDENSES. — The name Waldenses is said to have been derived 
from Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, France, who lived about 1150 
A. d. Finding opportunity, in the midst of a life of business activity, for the 
study of letters, he was led to the Bible, and, receiving the truths of the 
gospel, he devoted his life to the work of an evangelist. He rendered an im- 
(692) 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 693 



portant service to the cause of reform, by procuring, at his own expense and 
under his supervision, a translation of the New Testament into the Romaunt 
tongue, then the vernacular of Southern France. This was the first complete 
translation of the Scriptures into any of the languages of medieval Europe, 
and was the only one available for popular use. 

But the primitive Christians known as Waldenses, or Vaudois, existed 
"before the days of Waldo. From the earliest times there have been Christians 
holding the faith of the apostolic church, and bearing testimony against 
Romish tyranny and corruption. The diocese of Milan — which included the 
plains of Lombardy, the Alps of Piedmont, and the southern provinces of 
France — exceeded in extent the temporal dominions of the Roman see; and 
it was not until the middle of the eleventh century that Milan acknowledged 
the supremacy of the pope. Even then many of the people repudiated the 
action of their prelates, and in the mountains of Piedmont maintained their 
independence of Rome. In the south of France the Albigenses offered a 
similar resistance to the popish usurpations. 

The persecution which began under Innocent III., in the thirteenth 
century, resulted in the extinction of the Albigenses, and it continued, with 
murderous violence, against the Vaudois for hundreds of years. For the 
sake of peace, many at last resorted to an outward conformity to Rome. 
But with the Reformation, a new life animated the dwellers in the Piedmont 
valleys. Again they witnessed for their faith, and the fires of persecution 
were rekindled. Again and again bodies of soldiers were dispatcked against 
them. Massacre succeeded massacre. Tortures the most horrible that were 
ever perpetrated by fiends in human form, were visited upon aged men, 
lielpless women, and littli children. In 1685 the conquest was completed. 
All the surviving inhabitants of the valleys were dragged away to fill the 
prisons of their conquerors. Neglect, barbarity, and pestilence wrought 
their dreadful work; and in less than one year, out of fourteen thousand who 
bad entered, only three thousand came forth when the prison doors were 
opened. These were sentenced to exile, and in the dead of winter a large 
number made their way across the Alps, to a place of refuge. Hundreds 
perished, and after terrible suffering, the survivors reached the gates of 
Geneva. A few years later, part of this company returned to their mount- 
ains, and recovered possession of their deserted homes. 

In the eighteenth century, religious persecution generally subsided. Yet 
in 1799 the Waldenses were still subjected to many civil restrictions; their 
children were often stolen, or taken from them by force, in order to be edu- 
cated in the Catholic faith, and they had to pay tithes to the Romish clergy. 
It was not until 1848 that they were admitted, by the rulers of Piedmont, to 
equal enjoyment with others of all social and political rights. Within the 
States of the church, however, the pope still reigned supreme, and his power 
was a standing menace to religious freedom. But in 1870 the stronghold of 
popery fell. Soon the New Testament was printed in Rome, by the hand of 
a young Waldensian, under the very windows of the Vatican. And one of 
the prisons was converted into a publishing house, and in the torture- 



694 APPENDIX. 



chamber that once echoed the cries of the martyrs of Jesus, the press was set 
up, from which the gospel of peace was sent out to all the land. 

JOHN WYCLIFFE, or John of Wycliffe, the greatest of "the re- 
formers before the Reformation," was born about 1324, in the village of the 
same name, in Yorkshire, England. His death occurred in 1384. Of his 
early life, little is known. He received bis education at the University of 
Oxford, which even at that early date numbered not less than thirty thousand 
students. Until near the close of his life he continued to reside and to teach 
here. By his defense of the action of Edward III. in refusing the pope's 
demand for tribute, and his advocacy of popular rights when delegated to 
treat with the papal nuncios in the Netherlands, Wycliffe won the confidence 
and approval of the king and the people. Though pursued by the relentless 
enmity of the pope and his supporters, and at last driven from the university, 
he was appointed by the king to the rectory of Lutterworth, where he devoted 
himself to the translation of the Bible into the mother-tongue. "Wycliffe 
was eminent as a scholar, a diplomatist, and a preacher." "His wonderful 
learning and intellectual ability gave him a commanding influence in the uni- 
versity. But the Bible was his standard and staple; his sermons are really 
saturated with it. His object is always to defend the truth of Christ." 

JOHN HUSS, of Hussinetz, Bohemia, born in 1378, was chief among 
those by whom the torch of truth was handed down from Wycliffe to the 
reformers of the sixteenth century. He was educated at the University of 
Prague, and in 1402 became rector of the university, and preacher of Beth- 
lehem Chapel. He did not apprehend the truth so clearly as did Wycliffe, 
he held to papal doctrines which the English reformer had renounced; but he 
maintained the great fundamental truth of the infallibility of the Scriptures, 
and faithfully rebuked the vices of the church; and he laid down his life as 
a witness to his fidelity. He was burned at Constance, in 1415. 

"Huss was much less remarkable for the amount of his mental endow- 
ments and acquirements than for the candor with which he formed his con- 
victions, the tenacity with which he held them, the unselfish enthusiasm with 
which he spoke them. He cannot be said to have added ... to the 
intellectual wealth of the world; but his contribution to its moral capital 
was immense." He has been justly pronounced " one of the bravest of the 
martyrs who have died in the cause of honesty and freedom, of progress and 
of growth toward the light. " 

JEROME OF PRAGUE, the devoted friend of Huss, was a descendant 
of a noble Bohemian family. After spending several years at the University 
of Prague, he continued his studies at the leading universities of France, 
Germany, and England, at each receiving the degree of doctor of divinity. 
At Oxford he became acquainted with the writings of Wycliffe, and studied 
them with great enthusiasm. "Until now, "he said, "we had nothing but 
the shell of science; Wycliffe first laid open the kernel." He engaged in trans- 
lating Wycliffe's writings into the Bohemian language, and, on returning to Bo- 
hemia, joined Huss in promulgating the reformed doctrines. Jerome was born 
about 1365, and was burned at the stake in Constance, in 1416. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 695 

MARTIN LUTHER — Eisleben, a little town in the Thuringian forest, 
Saxony, was the birthplace of Luther, the greatest of the reformers. Born 
in 14S3, when the revival of letters had already begun, and the minds of men 
were awakening from the stupor of medievalism, Luther was, under God, to 
lead them from the bondage of superstition. In his boyhood he was sent to 
school at Mansfeld, at Magdeburg, and at Eisenach, and even then manifested 
a keen power of intellect. At Eisenach, as he sang before the houses, and 
asked for bread for Christ's sake, he attracted the notice of the kindly Ursula 
Cotta, who received him into her home, and gave a mother's care to the poor 
young scholar. In 1501 Luther entered the University of Erfurt; four years 
later he abandoned his studies, for the monastery. He was ordained priest in 
1507, and the following year was called to a chair in the University at Witten- 
berg. The famous theses against indulgences were posted in 1517; and in 
1521 he appeared at the Diet of Worms. For twenty-five years the decree 
of outlawry here pronounced hung over him; yet, like Wycliffe, he was to die 
in peace. Though nearly the whole of his active life was spent at Witten- 
berg, his death occurred at Eisleben, his native place, where, worn out with 
his mighty labors, he expired February 18, 1546. 

"Luther's physical life was largely one of suffering. His form, in early 
life, was spare, though in after-years approaching to corpulence. The full- 
ness of face given him in his later pictures, however, is said to have been the 
result, not of robustness, but of a dropsical tendency resulting from his early 
austerities. His habits were abstemious. His voice was not loud nor strong; 
it was their lightning, not their thunder, by which the mighty effects of his 
words were produced. 

"The character of Luther lies so open in his life that it is hardly neces- 
sary to trace its lines. He was so ingenuous that if all the world had con- 
spired to cover up his faults, his own hand would have uncovered them. His 
violence was that of a mighty nature, strong in conviction, waging the battle 
of truth against implacable foes. That he was unselfish, earnest, honest, in- 
flexibly brave in danger, full of tenderness and humanity; that he was one of 
the great creative spirits of the race, mighty in word and deed, matchless as 
a popular orator, one of the very people, yet a prince among princes, a child 
of faith, a child of God, — this is admitted by all." 

PHILIP MELANCTHON, the friend of Luther, and his co-laborer in 
the German Reformation, was born in 1497. He was the son of a master- 
armorer of Bretten, in the duchy of Baden, and was a relative and pupil of the 
celebrated Reuchlin, who did so much to introduce the study of Greek and 
Hebrew into Germany. The strength and clearness of Melancthon's under- 
standing made the acquisition of knowledge a delight. At the age of twelve 
years, he entered the University of Heidelberg, and at seventeen took his 
doctor's degree. It was about this time that he changed his name from 
Schwartzerd ("black earth") to the Greek Melancthon, which signifies the 
same thing. In those times it was not unusual for learned men to translate 
their names from German to Latin or Greek. At twenty-one, Melancthon 
was called to the Greek professorship at Wittenberg, and then began the 



696 APPENDIX. 



friendship with Luther which continued till the great reformer's death. 
Melancthon compares Luther to Elijah, and calls him "the man full of the 
Holy Ghost." And Luther, contrasting himself with Melancthon, wrote: 
" I was bound to fight with rabble and devils, for which reason my book3 are 
very belligerent. I am the rough pioneer, who must break road; but Master 
Philip comes along softly and gently, sows and waters heartily, since God 
hath richly endowed him with gifts." It was Melancthon's logical mind and 
polished pen that wrote the confession of Augsburg, whose clearness, strength, 
simplicity, and elegance were acknowledged even by its foes. He died at 
Wittenberg, in 1560, and was buried beside Luther in the castle church. 

ULRIC ZWINGLE was born New Year's day, 1484, in the little village 
of Wildhaus, in a narrow valley of southeastern Switzerland. He was the first 
of Swiss reformers, and his work exerted a widespread influence. Zurich was 
the scene of his most important labors; he was called to this city in 1519, and 
in 1525 the Reformation had become established here without violence, and 
almost without disturbances. As other cities and entire districts accepted 
the reformed faith, the popish cantons took up arms to oppose the right of 
religious liberty. In the struggle that followed, Zwingle, who acted as chap- 
lain for the reformed forces, fell on the field of Cappel, October 11, 1531. 

"Zwingle was a bold reformer, an able scholar, an eloquent preacher, a 
patriotic republican, and far-sighted statesman. He lacked the genius and 
depth of Luther and Calvin, the learning of Melancthon and (Ecolampadius; 
but he was their equal in honesty of purpose, integrity of character, heroic 
courage, and devotion to the cause of reformation, and he surpassed them in 
liberality." 

JOHN (ECOLAMPADIUS — CEcolampadius is called " the reformer of 
Basel, " but the wide extent of his influence entitles him to a more compre- 
hensive appellation. In his intellectual and moral qualities he bore a striking 
resemblance to Melancthon. "There are several illustrations in the period of 
the Reformation, that the Lord delights to send out his disciples in pairs 
when he has a great work to accomplish. Luther stood side by side with 
Melancthon, Calvin with Beza, and CEcolampadius with Zwingle." 

(Ecolampadius was born in 1482, in the present kingdom of Wiirtemberg. 
He early regarded Luther's teaching with favor, and, in 1522, upon being 
invited to Basel, he entered upon his work as a reformer. The city was at 
this time the most important intellectual center in Switzerland, the seat of its 
only university, and the residence of its most extensive printers. CEcolampa- 
dius was soon appointed to a chair in the university, and in 1529 the Reforma- 
tion was established in Basel. Here CEcolampadius died, in 1531. 

JACQUES LEFEVRE, an eminent scholar, and one of the earliest of 
French reformers, was born about 1450, and died in 1536. Lefevre was a pro- 
fessor in the University of Paris, when, about 1507, he began to study the 
Bible. He published commentaries on different portions of the Scriptures, and 
in 1521 one of his works was condemned as heretical. But by the favor of 
Francis I. and the princess Margaret, the proceedings against him were stopped. 
In 1523 his French version of the New Testament was issued. After the battle 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 697 

of Pavia, however, and the imprisonment of Francis in Madrid, the papist 
party resorted to the most vigorous measures against the reformers, and 
Lefevre, then seventy-five years of age, fled to Strasburg. Soon after the king's 
release he was recalled, and, after publishing his translation of the Old Testa- 
ment, he retired to Nerac, the residence of Margaret of Navarre, where he 
died. Lefevre had accepted the fundamental principles of the Reformation, 
and maintained them in his writings; yet he retained his connection with the 
Romish Church, hoping that a reform might take place in the church itself. 
Studious and peace-loving, he shrank from open conflict. But his lack of 
boldness to confess the truth caused him bitter remorse in his last hours. 
With tears and heart-rending anguish he exclaimed, "I am condemned. I 
have concealed the truth which I ought to have professed and openly borne 
witness to." Day and night he continued to utter this cry, but was at last 
enabled to cast his burden upon Christ, and he died trusting in the mercy 
of God. 

WILLIAM FAREL, one of the boldest pioneers of the Reformation 
in Switzerland and France, was born in Dauphiny, a province of Eastern 
France, in 1489. He was a zealous and successful student, and became pro- 
fessor in one of the colleges of Paris. Receiving the principles of the reformed 
faith, he threw himself, with all the strength of his ardent nature, into the 
work of the gospel. Being forced to flee from France, he repaired to Basel, 
and formed a warm friendship with Zwingle and (Ecolampadius, who could not 
but be attracted by his energy and self-sacrifice, while they perceived his lack 
of discretion, which sometimes led him to imprudence and even rashness. 
But Erasmus, the politic and conservative scholar, could not tolerate the un- 
compromising reformer, and, through his influence, Farel was forced to leave 
Basel. A large part of his long and active life was, however, spent in Switz- 
erland, in labors that were at once vast and perilous; and they resulted in 
establishing the reformed faith in a considerable part of that country. 

In 1532, Farel went as deputy from the reformers to the Waldensian Synod 
in the valley of Angrogna. He was ever after held in high esteem by the 
Vaudois, and exerted a strong influence over them. Through many vicissi- 
tudes, dangers, and sufferings, he continued laboring for the Reformation until 
the very day of his death, which occurred at Neuchatel, in 1565. ''Farel was 
an ardent, impulsive man; a missionary rather than an organizer; an iconoclast 
rather than a theologian. " Beza says that in his preaching "he excelled in 
a certain sublimity, so that none could hear his thunders without trembling." 

JOHN CALVIN — At Noyon, in Picardy, about seventy miles northeast 
of Paris, Calvin was born in 1509; he died at Geneva in 1564. Calvin early 
renounced Romanism, and in 1534 was forced to flee from France. In 1536 
he published at Basel the most celebrated of all his works, "The Institutes of 
the Christian Religion." The same year he entered upon his labors at Geneva, 
where nearly all his subsequent life was spent. Here his methods of govern- 
ment and reform were strictly observed, this being the condition upon which 
alone he would consent to remain. Under his rule, immorality of every sort 
was sternly suppressed. Besides the refugees that flocked to Geneva from 



698 APPENDIX. 

nearly all parts of Europe, thousands of students resorted thither, drawn hy 
the fame of his lectures and those of Beza. 

" Calvin's habits were frugal and unostentatious. He had a clear under- 
standing, an extraordinary memory, and a firmness and inflexibility of purpose 
which no opposition could overcome, no variety of objects defeat, no vicissi- 
tude shake. In his principles he was devout and sincere." Some acts of 
intolerance have cast a shadow upon his public career, but his character in 
private life was without a stain. As preacher, author, pastor, and leader of 
the Reformation throughout Europe, the extent of his labors is almost in- 
credible. His health was feeble, yet he continued his work almost to the day 
of his death. He chose to be poor, refusing additions to his moderate salary, 
and declining presents, except for the purpose of giving them to the poor. 
Though often accused of amassing wealth, he left at his death little more 
than two hundred dollars. At his own request, he was buried without pomp, 
and no monument marks his grave. 

MENNO SIMONS, "a reformer whose apostolic spirit and labors have 
thus far failed to receive the recognition they deserve. " He was born about 
1492, in Northern Holland. He died in Holstein in 1559. 

In 1536, Menno withdrew from the Romish Church. His opposition to 
the doctrine of infant baptism separated him from the Lutheran and Reformed 
churches. It was his earnest effort, while firmly opposing fanaticism, to 
restore in the church the purity and simplicity of apostolic days; a personal 
profession of faith in Christ was required as a prerequisite to baptism, and 
purity of life was a condition of church-membership. 

HANS TAUSEN, born in Denmark, in 1494; died in 1561. In 1524 he 
began to preach the reformed doctrines. He was the first preacher of the 
Reformation in Denmark, and, with Bugenhagen, was the chief agent in its 
establishment in that country. 

OLAF AND LAURENTIUS PETRI were born at Orebro, Sweden, 
the former in 1497, the latter in 1499. Olaf died at Stockholm in 1552, 
Laurentius at Upsala in 1573. They were chiefly instrumental in the es- 
tablishment of the Reformation in Sweden, under the protection of the king, 
Gustavus Vasa. 

WILLIAM TYNDALE, one of the most eminent English reformers of 
the sixteenth century, was born about 1484. Soon after accepting the re- 
formed faith he formed the design of translating the Scriptures into the En- 
glish language, and was forced to flee to the Continent to escape persecution. 
The New Testament was printed at Cologne and "Worms in 1625. His subse- 
quent history is involved in obscurity. He was engaged in the translation and 
printing of the Old Testament, and the publication of various works setting 
forth the doctrines of the Reformation. To elude the emissaries of the 
English king and prelates, he pursued his work in secret, and so carefully did 
he conceal his places of retreat that they are even yet unknown. In 1534 he 
ventured to settle at Antwerp, where he was arrested. At the castle of Vilvor- 
den, a few miles from Brussels, he was strangled and burned, October 6, 1536. 
It cannot be proved that Henry VIII. had any direct agency in his execution, 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 699 



but he made no effort to save him. The martyr's last prayer was, " Lord, open 
the eyes of the king of England. " 

The value of Tyndale 's ] abors as a translator of the Scriptures and a 
promoter of the Reformation in England, has never been adequately appreci- 
ated. The millions who in all quarters of the earth enjoy the blessings of the 
English Bible, owe him a debt of gratitude; for the authorized version has 
his for its basis. In his own time his teachings shaped the views of many of 
the leaders in the English Reformation, who also sealed their testimony with 
their blood. 

HUGH LATIMER, sometimes called "the John Knox of England," was 
born about 1470. His father was a plain yeoman, "who," says Latimer, 
"brought up his children in godliness and the fear of God." Latimer was 
educated at Cambridge, and was a zealous papist, but, through the efforts of 
the martyr Bilney, he accepted the doctrines of the Reformation. His fearless 
presentation of the truth won the favor of Henry VIII. , who appointed him 
bishop of Worcester, but upon the passage of "the bloody act of the six 
articles," enforcing a belief in transubstantiation, with other popish errors, 
Latimer promptly resigned his position. He was afterward arrested, and was 
for six years held a prisoner in the Tower. Released on the accession of 
Edward VI., he was offered his bishopric, but he firmly declined the honor, 
and continued faithfully to rebuke the vices of the times. When Mary came 
to the throne he was again committed to the Tower. Though he was now 
eighty years old, no respect was shown for his great age. He steadfastly 
maintained his faith, and was burned at Oxford in 1555. Latimer was not a 
man of great learning; he was plain in speech; but he was brave, honest, 
and devoted, a reprover of sin both in high places and in low. 

NICHOLAS RIDLEY, an English bishop and martyr, eminent for his 
learning and piety, was born about 1500. He studied at Cambridge, also at 
the most celebrated universities of France and the Netherlands. Through the 
favor of Cranmer he was appointed chaplain to King Henry, and, in the reign 
of Edward, he became bishop of London. After Mary's accession he was, 
with Latimer, burned at the stake in 1555. Being denied permission to speak 
unless he recanted, he said, " So long as the breath is in my body, I will never 
deny my Lord Christ and his known truth. God's will be done in me." 

In his private life, Bishop Ridley was pronounced "a pattern of piety, 
humility, temperance, and regularity." Fox speaks of him as " a man beau- 
tified with excellent qualities, . . . godly learned, and now written, 
doubtless, in the book of life." 

JOHN KNOX, the reformer of Scotland, was born in 1505. He was edu- 
cated at the University of Glasgow, and was ordained a Catholic priest. The 
writings of Jerome and Augustine, and the influence of the martyr Wishart, 
set him free from the fetters of Rome, and he became a preacher of the gospel. 
When the castle of St. Andrews was taken by the French, Knox was made 
prisoner, and being carried to Rouen he served for nineteen months as a galley- 
slave. Upon his release the state of affairs in Scotland forbade his return, 
and he spent some time in England, acting as chaplain to Edward VI. When 



700 APPEXDIX. 



Mary came to the throne, he went to Frankfort and Geneva, in each place 
becoming pastor of the English exiles. He was much esteemed by Calvin, 
whose doctrines he advocated. Returning to Scotland in 1559, he was, 
through the influence of the Romanists, proclaimed an outlaw and a rebel, 
but, nothing daunted, he pursued his labors, taking an active part in the estab- 
lishment of the Reformation in that country until his death, in 1572. 

JOHN BUNYAN, so widely known as the author of "Pilgrim's Progress, " 
was born in England, in 1628. He was the son of a tinker of Elstow, and 
was himself bred to the same trade. He, however, acquired some of the 
rudiments of education, and, though little inclined to religion, was far supe- 
rior in morals to most of his class. He served for a time in the parliamentary 
army, and here one of his comrades, while filling his post, was killed. 
Bunyan felt that a divine hand had interposed to save his life, and he was 
thus led to give his attention to religious things. After long and severe con- 
flicts he found peace in Christ. He joined the Baptists, and became an 
exhorter, and, after a time, one of their most distinguished preachers. 

In 1660, under the oppressive measures enforced at the Restoration, 
Bunyan was thrown into Bedford jail, where he remained for twelve years. 
For the support of his family he took up the making of tagged thread boot- 
laces, but he firmly refused either to sacrifice his faith or to escape from his 
prison by strategem, as he might easily have done. He was offered his 
freedom if he would give up preaching, and was told that if he persisted in 
defying the law, he would be sentenced to banishment, and to death should 
he return to England. His answer was, "If you let me out to-day, I will 
preach again to-morrow. " But his persecutors were thwarted; for the "Pil- 
grim's Progress," which he wrote in his dungeon, has taught the truths of 
salvation wherever the English language is spoken, and it has been translated 
into every tongue of Christendom. It is one of the favorite books that, after 
Holy Scripture, the missionary to the heathen translates for his converts. 

After his release, Bunyan preached with great zeal and success, gaining 
the appellation of "Bishop Bunyan." The Bible was his constant companion, 
the source of his wisdom, and the inspiration of his genius. Self-sacrifice for 
the truth's sake and for the good of others was the rule of his life. He died 
at the age of sixty, from exposure in a storm while returning from a success- 
ful effort to reconcile a father to his son. There are few more striking exam- 
ples of the educating, transforming power of the Holy Scriptures upon both 
the intellect and the heart, than is presented in the history of John Bunyan. 

JOHN WESLEY, the founder of Methodism, was born at Epworth, 
England, in 1703. His father was a minister of the Church of England. His 
mother, from whom he received his early training and education, was a woman 
of great intelligence and deep piety, firm yet wise in discipline, and a skillful 
teacher. He studied at Oxford, and won a high reputation for scholarship. 
It was here that the famous "Holy Club" was formed, John and Charles 
Wesley, Whitefield, and others uniting together for devotional exercises, min- 
istering to the sick and the poor, visiting prisons, etc. 

In 1725, Wesley received ordination to the ministry. When a mission to 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 701 

Georgia for the conversion of the Indians was projected, and a call was made 
for "a clergyman inured to contempt of the ornaments and conveniences of 
life, to bodily austerities, and to serious thoughts," Wesley responded. He 
remained two years in the colony, but without opportunity to accomplish the 
object of his mission. He returned to England in 1738, and the same year 
fully received the doctrine of justification by faith, and began to preach it. 
He especially devoted himself to the work of carrying the gospel to the poor 
and neglected classes. Finding the churches closed against him, he finally 
resorted to open-air preaching. "I could hardly reconcile myself," he says, 
"to this strange way of preaching in the fields, . . . having been all my 
life (till very lately) so very tenacious of every point relating to decency and. 
order that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had 
not been done in a church." Until his death, in 1791, he continued his labors 
in England, Scotland, and Ireland. During his life he traveled upwards of 
two hundred and fifty thousand miles, and preached forty thousand sermons, 
besides the oversight of all his churches and congregations, an immense cor- 
respondence, and the preparation of his voluminous writings. 

GEORGE WHITEFIELD, one of the most celebrated evangelists of 
modern times, was a native of Gloucester, England. Educated at Oxford, and 
a member of the Methodist Club, he was the first of their number who pro- 
fessed conversion. He was ordained in 1736, and labored especially to benefit 
the multitudes who were nob reached by the ordinary ministrations of the 
church. He seven times visited America, preaching in all the large cities. 
He also labored extensively in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and made a 
visit to Holland. Whitefield differed from Mr. Wesley in regard to the doc- 
trine of predestination, and the separation which resulted gave rise to the 
two branches, Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists. He died in 1770, at the 
age of fifty- six, as he was preparing for a seventh missionary tour through 
the United States. 

The power of Whitefield's preaching was acknowledged by all classes; 
multitudes nocked to hear him, and extensive revivals followed his labors. 
Not infrequently he preached three or four times a day. The day before his 
death he spoke at Exeter, Mass., holding a large audience spell-bound for two 
hours. He went to Newburyport, intending to preach next day. As he was 
retiring to his chamber at night, seeing the people gathered in the hall below, 
he stopped, and spoke to them from the staircase until his candle burned out 
in the socket. The next morning he was dead. 

JOHN ROBINSON, the Pilgrim pastor, was born in England, in 1575. 
He was educated at Cambridge, and became a minister of the Established 
Church; but feeling that the ecclesiastical supremacy accorded to the king was 
contrary to the teachings of Christ, he resolved upon separation. The decision 
was a painful one, and in referring to it he says, "Had not the truth been 
in my heart 'as a burning fire shut up in my bones,' I had never broken 
those bonds, . . . but had suffered the light of God to have been put out 
in mine own unthankful heart by other men's darkness." Robinson was- 
among the exiles who found refuge in Holland, and he became pastor of the 



'02 APPENDIX. 



Pilgrim church at Leyden, where he was highly esteemed both for piety and 
scholarship. When the Pilgrims decided to seek a home in America, it was 
found necessary to divide the company, and as the majority remained at 
Leyden, to follow their brethren at a later period, they claimed the min- 
istry of their pastor. But Robinson was not to accompany his flock to the 
New World. He died at Leyden, in 1625. His family afterward joined the 
exiles, and his descendants were among the colonists of New England. 

Robinson's character may be read in his farewell address to the Pilgrims. 
He was one of the few men that, in every age, have been the hope of reform, 
— men who, instead of resting their faith upon the creed or teaching of the 
church, will build only upon the eternal foundation of the Word of God. 

ROGER WILLIAMS, pre-eminently the advocate of religious freedom, 
was a native of Wales, born about 1600. He died in Rhode Island, in 1683. 
Williams took orders in the Church of England; but soon, he says, his 
" conscience was persuaded against the national church and ceremonies and 
bishops." He went to America in 1631, but being too radical and outspoken 
even for the Puritan colonies, he was sentenced to banishment. One of the 
regulations enacted by those law-makers was: "If any person or persons 
within this jurisdiction .... shall deny their [the magistrates'] lawful 
right or authority ... to punish the outward breaches of the first table 
[of the decalogue], . . . every such person or persons shall be sentenced 
to banishment." As Williams stoutly denied the jurisdiction of the magis- 
trates in religious matters, he stood condemned. 

He had been accused of advancing opinions that were dangerous to the 
peace and order of the commonwealth; but upon proceeding to Rhode Island 
he founded a community in which perfect religious liberty prevailed, and 
where these very teachings were freely permitted; yet life, property, and civil 
government were as secure here as in Massachusetts. Thus it was demon- 
strated that Williams' teachings were not dangerous to the peace and order 
of the State, that the charges against him were unsustained, and that his 
banishment from Massachusetts was unjust. 

"Williams' character as a man and a Christian was above reproach. Even 
his bitterest opponents spoke of him personally in terms of high respect. 
He was an especial friend of the Indians. He studied their language, re- 
spected and defended their title to their lands, and when the Massachusetts 
Colony and other white settlements were threatened with Indian hostilities, 
he was able, by his acquaintance and friendship with leading chiefs, to avert 
the impending dangers. " It was thus that Williams requited the injustice 
which he had suffered. 

WILLIAM MILLER, the well-known prophetic expositor, was born 
at Pittsfield, Mass., in 1782. During the greater part of his life, however, 
his home was at Low Hampton, New York, where he died in 1849. The son 
of an officer in the army of the Revolution, Mr. Miller himself served in the 
war of 1812, holding a captain's commission in the regular army. He had 
imbibed deistical sentiments before entering the army, but his integrity of 
character rendered the profligacy of the camp so distasteful to him that upon 
the expiration of the war he gladly abandoned a military life. 



BIO G EAPHICAL NO IKS. 703 

The fact that deism denies a future existence prevented him from giving 
a cordial assent to the doctrine, though he did not accept the Scriptures as 
inspired. When, ho.vever, he came to look upon the Bible as its own in- 
terpreter, instead of accepting the current theological teaching as the ex- 
ponent of revelation, all his difficulties were swept away. From the year 
1818, when he reached the conclusion that the personal coming of Christ was 
near, he continued for thirteen years prayerfully investigating the subject, 
but mentioning his views only in private. He entered upon their public pre- 
sentation in 1831, and, between this time and 1844, delivered four thousand 
lectures in five hundred different towns. About two hundred ministers ac- 
cepted his views, and five hundred public lecturers engaged in their promul- 
gation. In nearly a thousand places, congregations of believers were raised 
up, comprising about fifty thousand persons. Under Mr. Miller's labors 
alone, not less than six thousand souls were converted to Christ, and the 
number was probably much greater. Of the converts, fully seven hundred 
were avowed infidels before attending his lectures. 

Though mistaken in regard to the exact time of the second advent, his 
belief was unchanged as to the manner and nearness of the Saviour's coining. 
In 1845 he wrote: "I have candidly weighed the objections advanced 
against these views; but I have seen no arguments that were sustained by 
the Scriptures, that, in my opinion, invalidated my position. I cannot, 
therefore, conscientiously refrain from looking for my Lord, or from exhorting 
my fellow-men, as I have opportunity, to be in readiness for that great event.-" 
Yet he felt that his own work was nearly ended. " I shall leave to my 
younger brethren," he said, "the task of contending for the truth. Many 
years I toiled on alone; God has now raised up those who will fill my place." 
He continued, however, to preach from time to time, as the increasing in- 
firmities of age would permit; and he died in full faith of the doctrines which 
he had proclaimed. 

JOSEPH WOLFF, the famous Hebrew missionary and traveler, was 
born in 1795, in Bavaria. "Endowed with almost unprecedented linguistic 
talent, a quick power of perception, lively temperament, and great prudence, 
he became accpiainted, at a very early age, with the most prominent men in 
different countries of Europe. In 1812 he was baptized at Prague by a 
Benedictine monk. At Home, where he went to be educated as a missionary, 
he devoted himself to the study of Oriental languages, intending to carry the 
gospel to both Jews and Mohammedans. He enjoyed the favor of the most 
prominent men, including that of Pope Pius VII. ; but the liberal views 
which he expressed on various occasions made him suspected in the eyes of 
the Inquisition, and he had to leave the college and the eternal city. In 
England, he speedily found friends. The founders of the London Society for 
the Jews, perceiving his special fitness for missionary work, effected his en- 
trance to Cambridge University, where he continued his Oriental studies. 

" During his adventurous life as a traveler, — in Europe, Asia, America, 
and a part of Africa, — he became acquainted with kings and princes, as well 
as with the most learned men of all ecclesiastical relations. In the greatest 
perils he showed an undaunted courage, and great presence of mind. He 






704 APPENDIX. &&3&-/i 

preached everywhere, — at one time in this language, at another in a different 
one; and wherever he went, he understood how to interest the most promi- 
nent men and women in behalf of his mission. " Worn with the labors and 
exposures of his long journey ings, he spent his last years as the rector of an 
English country parish, where he died, in 1862. 

JOHN ALBERT BENGEL was born in Wiirtemburg, in 1687; died in 
1751. He is universally regarded as a man of critical judgment, of extensive 
learning, and solid piety. He was the author of several Biblical works of 
great value, both critical and exegetical, which still form a part of the treas- 
ures of the Bible student. Bengel's rule of interpretation was "to put noth- 
ing into the Scriptures, but to draw everything from them, and suffer nothing 
to remain hidden that is really in them. " 

LOUIS GAUSSEN, born in 1790, was a native of Geneva, and a clergy- 
man of the Reformed Church. He was known throughout Switzerland as an 
earnest upholder of evangelical Christianity, and was associated with Dr. 
Merle d'Aubigne and others, in seeking to substitute a scriptural faith for 
the rationalistic philosophy which pervaded Geneva. He encountered deter- 
mined opposition,' and was at last suspended by the consistory. In 1834 he 
took the chair of theology in the newly-founded evangelical school of Geneva, 
and became the author of various works upon the Scriptures. His death 
occurred in 1863. 

PIUS IX. AND THE DECREE OF INFALLIBILITY— From Mr. 
Gladstone's tract, "The Vatican Decrees," we condense the following brief 
account of the promulgation of the decree of infallibility under Pope Pius IX.: 
The Vatican Council was solemnly opened, amid the sound of innumerable 
bells and the cannon of St. Angelo, December 8, 1869, in the Basilica of the 
Vatican. At the fourth public session, July 18, 1870, the decree of papal 
infallibility was proclaimed. This decree not only asserts the power of the 
Eoman pontiff over all other churches, but attributes to him "an immediate 
jurisdiction, to which all Catholics, both pastors and people, are bound to 
submit in matters not only of faith and morals, but even of discipline and 
government." It declares that the pope, when speaking "in his official 
capacity, to the Christian world on subjects relating to faith and morals, is 
infallible" and that his decisions are final and irreversible. 

This crowning act of papal blasphemy was speedily followed by the fall 
of the pope's temporal sovereignty. On the second of September, 1870, six 
weeks from the time when the decree of infallibility was proclaimed, "the 
French Empire, which had been the main support of the temporal power of 
the pope, collapsed with the surrender of Napoleon III. , at the old Huguenot 
stronghold of Sedan, to the Protestant King William of Prussia; and on the 
twentieth of September the Italian troops, in the name of King Victor 
Emanuel, took possession of Rome, as the future capital of united Italy." 
From the day when Pius IX. appeared before the people of Rome, at the 
announcement of his infallibility, he was never again seen in public. Shorn 
of his temporal power, and disdaining to own himself subject to the national 
authority, the proud pontiff of Rome continued, until his death, in 1878, a 
self-constituted prisoner in the palace of the Vatican. 



